Devotion

I didn't get out for a run yesterday, and I really missed that, so I made amends today and did a few circuits of Northcliffe Park, taking in both the meadows and the woods. There are never too many people about up there but those I come across are usually more than willing to stop and chat - and be photographed for a blip. I observed Peter and Rupert for a while before approaching them. It was hard to tell who was more devoted to who. I've never shared a bond with an animal like this and I felt today like I've missed out on something very special. One day perhaps?

I woke up this morning early enough to watch the last few of overs play from the test match in Adelaide. From an Englishman's viewpoint the score was thoroughly depressing but the little bit of cricket I saw was utterly riveting. Indeed, loyalties aside, this is cricket at its combative, gladiatorial best, a battle being fought out in the heads of the players every bit as much as on the field of play. It's a battle being won in very convincing style by the Aussies. They are totally in our heads at the moment, scrambling our brains and draining away what little confidence we had left after the debacle at Brisbane. Yet Joe Root and Michael Carberry, both novices at this level, managed to survive. This next session of cricket is going to be pivotal to the whole series. We need to resist and make their bowlers suffer for a change. If we can have a good day then then the series will remain alive. If we capitulate further to the demons that Mitchell Johnson has released in our player's minds then I fear the series will be as good as dead. I'm going to have to watch tonight for as long as I can stay awake. Sport simply does not get any better than this.

The pressure-cooker intensity of the play could not have been better illustrated than by Joe Root's inappropriate single off the penultimate ball of the day. He looked calm enough on the outside but that belied an inner desperation to be watching Johnson unleash his 95mph bullets as opposed to be facing them. His raw survival instinct told him there was an opportunity to get to the other end and he went for it, almost sacrificing his partner in the process. A good throw and Carberry would have gone. And then the next ball, the last of the day, Carberry should definitely have gone. The Aussies missed a trick by not reviewing the decision and we seem to have received our first slice of luck of the entire game. Cricket is so often cyclical, as it so often turns on single moments of brilliance or loss of concentration. Could that reprieve be as significant as Carberry's missed catch last night that reprieved Haddin? I really, really hope so - mostly because I want this series to stay alive through Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. Just as we were not really as good as the summer's 3-0 scoreline suggested, so the Australians are not really as good as the current statistics suggest. I think these remain very well matched sides in terms of ability. This has the potential to be one of the great series of all time ... if we can unscramble our brains and play our natural game. Come on England!