Chastened England search for wickets

With Australia piling on a big total on day three, Vic Marks writes in the Guardian that Andrew Staruss' attack looked increasingly bedraggled as the day progressed and says this is a good match for an aspiring England bowler to miss.

We were back in Caribbean mode, where the dead, grassless surfaces eventually sapped their energy. There Broad expressed the view that he was pining for England and the green, green grass of home. The attack found some of that at Lord's and Chester-le-Street and they smiled. But here they have been emasculated once again and they have been reminded that Australians are more ruthless, more disciplined than Test cricketers in the Caribbean

With the England attack made to look toothless by the efficient Australian batting, Simon Barnes writes in the Times that the third day was one of real suffering for the home side.

Andrew Strauss, the England captain, looked like Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter books, trying the spell to open doors, but finding them for ever locked, no matter how he waved his wand or uttered the magic word: “Alohomora!” He tried with all his bowlers in turn, but hardly a door did he open all day.

Michael Henderson writes in the Daily Telegraph that though much of the talk ahead of the Ashes was of England's superior slow bowling, neither Monty Panesar nor Graeme Swann have made a strong case for a place in the XI for the second Test.

And if one man has to go it will be Panesar, who can just about hold a bat, and whose fielding is barely junior house-match standard. Three years after his Test debut, his general lack of competence, which some find endearing, remains shocking.

And in the Independent Peter Roebuck writes that Ben Hilfenhaus has been the best fast bowler on display in the match so far.In the same paper, Angus Fraser suggests that asking England's new-ball bowlers to concentrate on bowling short has cost England.