CRICKET:Perhaps it was all a New Year's resolution from the visitors to do better in 2007, but if almost 50,000 people came to the Sydney Cricket Ground to salute the legends, then they were given some England defiance to chew on as well.

The first day of the last Test was a good one for the tourists, one of spunky batting on a pitch that nipped and niggled so that never was there a time when a batsman could think himself truly in.

By the close, 10 overs early because of bad light after a start delayed by 50 minutes because of morning rain, England had advanced their first innings to 234 for four.

Andrew Flintoff was unbeaten on 42, having batted with more freedom than he has to date in the series (which is not saying much, but at least gives notice that he is a better player than his static performances have shown), and Paul Collingwood was entrenched yet again with 25.

Stumps, however, came at an appropriate time for them, for though some sides have the propensity to flog a tired attack in the late overs, England have a tendency to undo good work with a last-ditch loss of wickets. As it was, they made their way at the close knowing that if the new ball had been avoided it would be there to face them first thing in the morning.

The Australians, by contrast, may not have been entirely happy with their day's work, given the assistance there was in the pitch. To shift four wickets was the minimum they might have expected, even allowing for the loss of the toss.

Even then, though, they were gifted two of them: by Andrew Strauss, who played an injudicious slash outside off stump to the first ball he received of a new spell from Brett Lee; and later, Kevin Pietersen, having played with massive skill, enterprise and no little restraint for more than 2½ hours, was suckered into giving his wicket to Glenn McGrath, the first of two wickets he took in five deliveries after tea.

This immediately quashed the notion that the reason for putting an English tenor on to the outfield to serenade McGrath, and the other two retirees, Shane Warne and Justin Langer, was a cunning ploy to keep them on their feet during the interval.

The three of them stood, a little self-consciously, on the dressing-room balcony listening intently to Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye), perhaps wondering if they should have kept quiet about going.

Not that it did McGrath much harm. He was relentless, probing like the skilled interrogator of batsmen that he is, rarely off a length and gaining movement each way. There were three long spells from him, of seven, eight and six overs, and the concession of 57 runs does scant justice.

He might have been rewarded early on with the wicket of Strauss, who, in a tricky morning session, edged low to third slip, where Langer dropped the chance.

One over later, Lee, having replaced him, removed Strauss to end an opening partnership of 45, England's best of the series, in which he and Alastair Cook have been consistent as a pair without once kicking on. McGrath will have looked on ruefully.

It was after tea, however, that he made the twin incisions. Pietersen had been a thorn to them, playing and missing frequently but then adopting a tactic of leaving his crease that would be considered orthodox to a spinner but appears risky to a seamer.

Was there an element of recklessness in Pietersen's dismissal? Had he been goaded? McGrath dropped short as Pietersen advanced and he flailed a pull, only for the mistimed shot to fall harmlessly on the leg side. Two balls later and a similar response to a similar initiative saw him again mistime a bouncer for Mike Hussey to take an agile catch at midwicket.

It brought to an end a third-wicket stand of 108 with Ian Bell that had begun when Cook was caught behind from the inside edge as he prodded forward to Clark.

In the following over, Bell pushed forward and, with the thinnest of inside edges on to the very top of middle stump, gave McGrath his second wicket.

Bell's 71 was comfortably his best innings of a series that has seen four half-centuries from him and, unless he had Pietersen's dismissal on his mind, he was victim to the sort of delivery that can undo a batsman at any time.

In contrast to McGrath, it had been a barren day for Warne, his 19 overs looking stiff, and, unusually, without real menace. It would be a surprise if Warne did not have his say in this game, but just for once he was overshadowed.

Guardian Service