And an unforgettable, er... 91

There's probably nothing that gives me more pleasure in following cricket these days than charting the rise and rise of Michael Clarke. Friday, he breathed life into an Australian side that had been struggling to get on top of the First Test, and then looked set to add a debut Ashes century at Lord's to his CV.

Then came one shot too reckless, and he chopped a Matthew Hoggard delivery into his stumps. Clarke was gone for 91 from just 106 deliveries. Although Clarke's departure started an Australian collapse - 4/22 in the last eight-and-a-bit overs of the day - he and Damien Martyn had put their team 290 runs in front of England. That should be enough to win this Test.

It's a wonderfully versatile word, "should", isn't it?

Friday was also a defining moment in the international career of Kevin Pietersen. As well as top scoring for England in his first Test innings, 58 out of 155, his long-term place in the team became more secure with the news from Guildford that Graham Thorpe was retiring from international cricket.

My partner is having a baby in the next couple of weeks and I have decided that I want to concentrate on my family life.

GPT putting as gracious a face as possible onto the fact that the selectors had, just a few days earlier, given him the shaft.

There's another English name we should remember from Friday's play in the First Test - especially in case we don't happen to hear much from him again. Somerset batsman James Hildreth took the catch that removed Ricky Ponting in Australia's second innings. It's always been a bugbear of mine... why aren't stats on substitute fielder catches consistently kept in Test cricket?

My 3-2-1 for Friday: 3 pts, Michael Clarke; 2 pts, Damien Martyn; 1 pt (despite his dropsy in the field) Kevin Pietersen.

I'm going to put all these 3-2-1's together towards my own player of the series title. (Name to be decided but I should have one ready by tomorrow. "Compton-Miller" is a hard act to follow.)

That Day Two stumps score: Australia 190 all out and 279 for 7, England 155.