No thread yet and it starts on Thursday.

This Aussie team have some mouth on them don't they. The decent but fairly average Nathan Lyon gobbing off now to anyone willing to listen about 'ending careers' and getting Joe Root dropped. The thick as whale omelette David Warner chipping in as well, I'd laugh my cock off if Jimmy Anderson knocked him over early on. Yes plenty of question marks hang over the England squad, but the Aussie squad looks as weak and unfamiliar (especially the batting) as I ever remember. Don't forget we bowled them out for 60 not that long ago. It's not boxing what is this awful trash talk? They lack a massive amount of class and are setting themselves up for a fall. Far, far better cricketers than Lyon have said far less in the lead up to a series. Good on England on maintaining a dignified silence hopefully we go at them hard from ball one as they are beatable if we put runs on the board.

I still think Australia will win 2/3-1 but their selections for the first test are intriguing to say the least. Picking Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine would suggest they aren't quite as confident of victory as their outward demeanour suggests. These are surely quite cautious selections?

Hopefully we can get at least a draw out of Brisbane where we always have a bad record and then I think we can win in Adelaide under the lights with the pink ball. On a personal note I'm going to the 4th and 5th tests so hopefully it's not 3-0 by the time I get there!

Australia haven’t lost at The Gabba since 1988 which is an incredible statistic, something like 21 wins and 7 draws!!!

It’s quite an unpredictable series this one, doubts over both line ups. Both teams have 2 Star batsmen in Cook/Root and Warner/Smith and I worry for our 2 a bit. Cook seems in a bit of decline and lots of pressure will be on Root.

Bowling wise Aussies seem to have more firepower for their pitches if they all stay fit.

The trash talk is pathetic really, it’s a cricket match for gods sake

I like a bit of hype. I don’t think anyone takes it seriously.

I think talking about ending fellow professionals careers is taking things a bit far as is harping back to four years ago and intimidation they’ve had a team mate killed on cricket field in the meantime it clearly hasn’t had much impact on some.

On the field fine play as hard as you like but it’s the Ashes it doesn’t need cheapening by trash talk I remember mind games from the likes of Warner and McGrath (players who people like Warner and Lyon aren’t fit to lace the boots of) but nothing like this garbage. It’s not some two bit boxing match that they are trying to build up hype and sell tickets for it’s one of sports great occasions.

Getting bored now with the police fannying about with the Ben Stokes business.

WTF is taking so long? It was a punch up outside a night club. Prosecute him for aggravated assault, whatever, get him sentenced if that's what's to happen and get it over with. He deserves whatever punishment is coming to him but this is mental torture - for England fans too!

It's typical of Plod these days to milk their involvement in 'celebrity' cases to the max.

I think I read that it was going to be this week.

Hopefully he’ll be there for Adelaide.

It would be far easier to deal with Stokes' absence if he had simply picked up an injury. The avoidable, self-inflicted nature of this incident is what really sticks in the throat.

I'm a bit disappointed Mark Wood or Liam Plunkett haven't been given call-ups with all the pace bowling injuries...

Both will be in Australia with the Lions so could realistically feature I can see why Wood wasn’t selected in the full squad he’s got to somehow get his body to hold together for more than five minutes, if he can get some overs under his belt and wickets I could see him playing a Test. I’d have definitely picked Plunkett for Stokes he’s bowled really well in an England shirt in the last couple of years.

Plunkett isn't even in the lions squad is he?

You’re right I thought he was.

It’s strange how he’s been labelled a white ball bowler he rarely plays four day for Yorkshire. In Australia the way he’s been bowling you’d fancy him to do well.

England team;

Cook, Stoneman, Vince, Root, Malan, Ali, Bairstow, Woakes, Broad, Ball Anderson

I’d bat Bairstow ahead of Moeen personally but that’s the order they are going with.

Ball has made a very swift recovery. It looked more or less nailed on that Overton was going to start a few days ago.

I'm glad Ball is back though. A lovely, repeatable action and he should get plenty of bounce on the Aussie pitches.

I can't wait for the start although I'm not sure why given every Ashes tour I've watched (first one in 94/95) has started horrendously. Even the series we won in 2010/11 started with us being 0 for 1 and then Peter Siddle claiming a hattrick

Yeah I remember that Strauss cut a long hop straight to gully in the first over!

Hope Mark Stoneman does well. Gutted that he had to leave Durham after the ECB had done their worst, but he deserves his chance.

More to the point, England really need a solid start from the openers - all series but especially tonight.

It is a bit bizarre that they're still trying to keep up Steve Waugh's "Mental Disintegration" tactic when they aren't even close to the side that he had.... knowing that you were facing a couple of all-time greats in McGrath and Warne with more than useful bowlers like Gillespie and Lee backing them up, plus a batting lineup including the likes of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Waugh, Gilchrist is one thing - but the likes of Hazelwood and Cummins, and the same sort of batting problems England have is nothing like as intimidating. It almost sounds like they're trying to convince themselves that they're a good side.

What makes this a fascinating series is that at the moment no-one can see which way it's going to go - both sides have potential but also flaws, and it could all be about who lands the first blow. I'd have Aus as favourites at this point because I think their bowlers are going to be better on their own wickets - we really need Woakes to bowl well and Broad to find form - you just feel that we're always likely to lose quick wickets. However, bat first and well, maybe one of their seamers picks up an injury, and it's a different game.

But that was always chirping on the field, I never remembers awful chat about ‘ending people’s careers’ off the field.

In the style of Kevin Keegan ‘I’d love it if we beat them’

Cook responded the right way to the chat. He laughed it off. Let's hope all the lads do the same.

So we're having a bat. I know it's a cliche, but we've got to bat through the first 15 overs without losing a wicket. Doesn't matter if we're 25-0 after 15, after that the ball will be soft, the pitch soft and we should be able to pick them off.

Did I say 15 overs? I meant 15 balls..

Solid start it would be an excellent one without the needless runout.

It’s great for England going forward that Vince and Stoneman played well.

Would of been very nice if Vince had got to a ton and Root was still in at the end of the day. Nathan Lyon has bowled 20 overs for 27!!

He’s gone for 40 odd hasn’t he? It’s a slow pitch and he’s bowled well, he bowls a pretty negative line line especially to the left handers he rarely bowls a bit straighter looking for the LBW which opens up scoring opportunities he tends to pitch off and spin it away.

He’s trying to bowl a bit straighter at Moeen after he hit him for six and he’s put men out.

Did have then

They discussed it after the day and I thought KP talked absolute nonsense if that’s how he went on in the dressing room no wonder he was disliked

The right handers especially maybe could have got at him a bit more but I can understand why Vince was cautious against him on day one of the series. Pietersen said we should not have let him bowl 20 odds overs 0/40 and he’d rather that he’d have come off having taken 3-70 So you’d rather us be 220 for 7? He was getting plenty of turn and bowled well but walked off the field wicketless. The Aussies haven three very good quick bowlers but they are all injury prone, the more overs they bowl the better an attritional approach on a slow pitch will do for me. We’ll hopefully score quicker tomorrow as Ali and Bairstow are both quicker scorers and hopefully get in and make runs. Solid day.

Certainly going to be a good first few hours with the new ball, if we manage to get a few more on the board without losing a wicket we could build a decent total

It’s was sort of pleasing in strange way that the batsmen who failed were Root and Cook. All the players who hadn’t played in the Ashes before didn’t looks over awed and got stuck in for team. Malan was starting to look good by the Close after really battling for his first 40 or so balls.

Cook's lack of form on this tour is a worry and it's starting to look like a trend. One test century in the last 12 months - and that was at home to the West Indies.

That hundred was 243 in fairness

I’m not overly concerned he scored 70 in the ininngs before the Test and it’s true that he doesn’t convert 50’s into 100’s as regularly as he used to but he looked in good knick all summer. Getting out early is part of parcel of opening the batting and I reckon he’ll go on and have a good series.

I think it's still all in the balance after day 1; Vince'S runout was disappointing, Root and Cook going cheaply doesn't help.

I went to headingly for the Windies test and I really like Malan, I trust him to stick around tomorrow.

Again, it's a case of seeing off the new ball in the first hour. If we can do that then we can put the Oz under real pressure with Ali and Bairstow likely to play shots (maybe to our detriment).

It’s in the balance without a doubt but it’s a steady day for England. A bit of rain as well as well was nice. A draw in Brisbane would not be a disaster they never lose there we don’t start every Ashes series in Australia at the Gabba by coincidence it’s only over here we sell Test Matches to the highest bidder and bankrupt counties who provide the best players.

Hmmm... this is taking a turn for the worse

Not quite!!!

What England need is an Australian manager. Eddie Jones's England rugby side have beaten his fellow roo shaggers five times on the trot.
And that includes a first ever win in Brisbane.

I find Smith annoyingly prolific as I don’t like him as a player, sportsman or character. The old school Aussies played hard on the field but generally were not the petulant child type of characters like him.

Do they still stop playing for bad light?

Yes, if it's dark.

[Looks up Airship Hire Brisbane]

This x 100.

I can't think of a batsman with his record who is so awful to watch, at least Shiv Chanderpaul always seemed a nice lad. He just knows his game. Decent length outside off stump he leaves, anything shorter he back foot drives, fuller he leaves. Anything straighter than off stump is clipped through the legside, he does have a straight drive. I wish we had someone he could bomb him with the short ball because I think he takes that on as an offset to his discipline around off stump. Still, I reckon we can win this series and with Smith scoring a lot of runs because as good as he is he's a limited player. He's hard to get out but shouldn't get away from us.

It's going well... too well.

As I've already said, Cook's lack of form is a real worry. England need him and Root to both play up to expectations to have any chance in this series.

Oh, and exactly two months have gone by since the Stokes punch up and the police still haven't completed their investigation!

I blame the figure on the grassy knoll.

This game showing why Test cricket is still the best. Momentum swinging session by session on each day so far and at end of each day sort of honours even. For me Aussies in driving seat now but who knows.

I was thinking the same about the Stokes incident. Why is it taking so long?

A decision was expected on the Stokes incident this week. If he wasn't in the public eye theirs no way this would have dragged on for so long which can't be right really.

This is shaping up to be a great Test Match, I thought Stoneman batted superbly in that final hour apart from an uppish cut shot first ball he looked really good. The first hour is absolutely crucial in the morning as we're nearly through the new ball now and I reckon the pitch is looking pretty flat when the ball is older now. Test cricket at it's absolute best , Root getting hit with a nasty blow and the Aussies going as hard as the could, two down at the close is not a disaster in the circumstances.

Fantastic courage from Root to get straight back up from that because it easily could of been nasty. Hopefully both of them dig in and Root has a captains innings like Smith did then who knows, only thing that concerns me is the tail, if we lose early wickets tonight/morrow then it will be game over

Oh well looks like we’ll have to win in Adelaide!

We just need to get Warner early in the morning and we’re still in this, you know the old saying ‘one brings ten?’ No? Well you will this time tomorrow.

Forgot this test, it's over - much like Jonny Bairstow's ashes if these claims are true