Dot balls allow England to gain the Upper Hand

The playing eleven was as per predicted, the decision to bat first was as predicted and so was the predictable Australian top order collapse.  On a pitch that looked easy pace the Australian batsmen failed to find a game plan between pure aggression and rock solid defence. 

Warner started as he would in a T20 match racing to 18 of 14 balls including 4 boundaries but after he went into a conservative mindset. Warner only managed another two fours and scored his 31 of next 68 balls.  While he did leave the ball well and England bowled accurately if he had kept the same mindset when he first started Australia could have reached a hundred at lunch.

Watson in the meantime seemed so focused on his front foot defence he neglected his back foot game. Watson innings of 22 was his slowest when he has crossed 20 in Test cricket and his mindset set right from the start signified a batting approach that was alien to him. England deserved the credit by placing very straight mid-on and a straight short mid-wicket. The field set encouraged Watson to play across the line but he resisted the temptation but got bogged down as could not find an alternative way to score.  Finally he got poked at ball that he would have left well alone.

Steve Smith was the only Australian batsmen to show initiative on scoring quick singles and rotating strike.  Through his brief stay Smith managed to push the ball into gaps and used his hands cleverly to ensure the singles still optimum way to putting England on the back foot.

Even later in the day as Johnson and Haddin recovered  the innings the singles they managed were the clip of the legs or the thighs rather than using soft hands to place the probing lines out the off stump.  

Throughout the day the Australian played out 412 dot balls out of 560 balls, meaning that failed to score of 75% of the deliveries. It enabled England to bog Australia down and ball consecutively at one batsman.   

Australia might well be satisfied at the close of the Day 1 but on a pitch that was termed as ‘best’ looking GABBA pitch on Day 1 by Shane Warne, by blocking too many balls they allowed England to gain the upper hand.