Who was the most boring?

Accusations of negativity and boring play were coming thick and fast after day two at Adelaide Oval, but the Australian media couldn’t decide which team was at fault. Writing in The Sunday Age, Peter Roebuck was in no doubt.

Australia has played its most negative cricket for 20 years. A nation that relishes adventure on the field has been forced to twiddle its thumbs as its highly paid cricketing representatives resorted to the most persistent form of leg theory seen since Trevor "Barnacle" Bailey dumped his bags in the attic. A side proud to the point of boastfulness about its unceasing aggression put up the shutters in the most craven manner. Far from entertaining a crowd agog for a stoush, the home side pursued tactics calculated to kill the game.

In his column in The Sunday Mail, Robert Craddock agreed.

Zzzz. That is the kindest four-letter word that could describe Australia's go-slow tactics against England star Kevin Pietersen yesterday. The sight of Shane Warne bowling over after over around the wicket into footmarks in a bid to stop Pietersen scoring was a major victory for the batsman. With a sell-out crowd at the Adelaide Oval, and millions watching around Australia, it just didn't seem right that the contest between the greatest slow bowler of all time and perhaps the game's next batting superstar should be reduced to no contest at all.

But Craddock, who also writes for the Herald Sun, had only the previous day given England a backhanded compliment about their sometimes dour batting.

England is trying to win the Ashes with "fire and ice" batting tactics which had spectators jeering - then cheering - in Adelaide yesterday. The idea is to send out a padded wall of four solid batsmen - Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood - who try and sandpaper the edge off Australia's attack. Then Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff emerge searching for quick runs against a leg-weary attack. It is not a foolproof plan because Australia rarely loses wars of attrition. But in playing this way, England is at least being true to itself. Some teams come to Australia and immediately go belly up because they try and match Australia for razzle dazzle.