Aussies in a tizz over phys; RESULT!

Byline: DEREK McGOVERN; JOHN SHAW 

ONLY in cricket can one team accuse the other of stalling tactics in a match lasting five days.

England slowed things down in the final session on the first Ashes Test in Cardiff on Sunday by sending on the physio when no player was injured, a tactic successfully employed for years by football managers.

You could tell English cricket isn't as experienced in the art of gamesmanship - the physio weighed about 18 stone. By the time he'd finished jogging to the crease he appeared to need attention from himself.

Stan James make England's Steve McCaig 5-6 favourite to be first physio seen on the pitch at Lord's, with his Aussie counterpart Alex Kountouris 10-11.

McCaig is 18 to be the first seen from space. If England win the Ashes, I predict McCaig will be 1-100 for a knighthood.

In Cardiff the Aussies looked better than England in every department, except time-wasting. They are now a top-priced 5-6 to win the series which on Welsh evidence is still a corking bet.

Steve Harmison (left) has been cut from 4-11 to 4-7 by Hills to start this week's Second Test. He's 12-1 to bowl a wide with his first delivery and 20-1 to take a wicket (I'm assuming that also refers to his first delivery and not the entire Test).

It's 10-1 for an Aussie to be fined for sledging, which is a terrible bet. The weather's shocking but even in England you don't get snow in July, not in the south anyway.

Second Test (Hills): 3-1 England, 7-4 Australia, 11-10 draw. Test series: 8-11 Australia, 5-2 England, 10-3 draw.