A steady first hour, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed opening for Pakistan. Shane Watson, 2005's first Test debutant, has bowled already, one over for one run.

Today must officially be a sellout. Channel 9 broke into "The Prince and the Showgirl" at 10.45am to start live coverage in Sydney 15 minutes late. There must be plenty of pissed-off Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier or Terence Rattigan fans out there!

I'll wait, however, to see what the official attendance is. Did channel 9 buy out the remaining unsold seats in order to gain an advertising windfall on TV? It wouldn't be the first time they've done that.

But I won't stop harping about the absurd 10.30 start time for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, done so that play will finish in time for the 6pm news. Bugger channel 9. It's absurd to make the fans travel to the ground first thing in the morning for an early start when the sun does not set at this time of year till after 8pm *and* the ground has decent floodlights.

Midday would be a civil start time for play at the SCG.