Edgbaston Test, Day 1
Thursday, July 6, 2001 What a day. Mike Atherton said in the shower afterwards, 'This is not how Test cricket used to be played.'

But that's the style of cricket that Australia have adopted. If they set four slips and two gullies, you're bound to have a few scoring opportunities, but Steve Waugh can afford to do that with the bowling attack he's got. Quite a few of our runs came from a tailender, Andy Caddick, and tailenders do score at a rate -- we emphasised to our tail before the game that they should play a few shots.

Then from ball one, we knew exactly what the Australian batsmen would do, we knew they would go at it. It's going to be quite a taxing summer for yours truly.

I didn't think our bowlers did badly. They were a bit wide early on, but some of the balls that were going for four weren't bad balls. It's what happens when you get world-class batters and a fast outfield.

Atherton and Butcher did very well for us with their hundred partnership. Atherton was showing signs of a few nerves this morning, which was understandable given all the history between him and McGrath. If you don't get pumped up on a day like today, you never will. But he's a class player and he played the way we know he can.

Butcher has performed like that on and off for us. We've always had him down as a good player, with as a good a technique as anyone in the side, but he didn't quite come on when he was in the team last time round.

In the afternoon, we had a couple of weak dismissals -- me padding up, Ward dragging it on. We can't afford that against Australia. Then Stewart and Caddick played really well. Stewart's been looking good lately and Caddick dumbfounded me and Duncan. I've played against him for Essex v Somerest and he's played like that, and I've kept telling Duncan he can do it. But his form had gone for England and in Sri Lanka he was abysmal. Now people know what he can do, so the pressure's going to be on him to do it again! It was nice for us to be doing that to the opposition, usually it's them doing it to us.

At the toss, I wasn't sure what I would do, right up to the last moment. As the coin went up, I thought I would bat because the wicket was very dry. The wicket said bat; history said bowl.

Apparently it surprised some people that we picked the spinner, Ashley Giles, ahead of the fourth seamer, Dominic Cork, but it was an easy decision once he was declared fit and available. The wicket really is dry. Warne turned one out of the footholds to get Afzaal and it's going to turn more as the game goes on. If you don't play a spinner on this wicket, you never will.

Nasser Hussain was talking to Tim de Lisle

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