England are ahead in the game – Ponting, Vaughan
England are marginally ahead in the game after two days of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, according to Ricky Ponting and Michael Vaughan.
The two BT pundits agreed that the fact that Joe Root’s side had runs on the board on a slow wicket – combined with Australia’s comparatively shaky bottom five – made the tourists the better placed of the two teams.
That runs contrary to the WinViz predictor which has Australia 44 per cent to win, England 40 per cent and the draw 16 per cent.
England were bowled out for 302 in the first innings and reduced Australia to 76-4 before Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh consolidated to leave the hosts 137 runs behind on 165-4 at the close.
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