The small cup being held is not a cup trophy as is normal in other sports but is a terracotta urn about 11 inches high. It supposedly contains the ashes of a bail and was presented to the England captain by a group of Melbourne women, It followed a scathing newspaper report after England had been beaten by Austalia in England for the first time. The report stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

England won the toss and decided to bat first.

England: A Cook (capt), J Root, J Trott, K Pietersen, I Bell, J Bairstow, M Prior, S Broad, G Swann, S Finn, J Anderson

So Bresnan and Onions left out of the initial 13 man squad. As planned 22-year-old Joe Root opens the batting with Alastair Cook and hopefully this will be the England partnership for years to come. No way back for Nick Compton if it goes to plan!

Australia: S Watson, C Rogers, E Cowan, M Clarke (capt), P Hughes, S Smith, B Haddin, P Siddle, J Pattinson, M Starc, A Agar.

19-year-old spinner Ashton Agar gets a debut cap for Australia.

Cook out for 13

Root out for 30

Pietersen out for 14

Trott out for 48

124 for 4

Thoughts of a 5-0 whitewash for England seem a bit unlikely.

Bell out for 25.

178 for 5

At this rate Australia will be batting before the day is out.

Prior out for 1

180 for 6

Most of the wickets have been down to poor play by England rather than exceptional bowling by Australia.

I'm sure Cook would have been hoping to post a first innings score of 400+ after winning the toss. Some dire shots from the England top order.

Broad out for 24

Bairstow out for 37

Finn out for a duck

213 for 9 and the last 2 are in.

Swann out for 1

Anderson not out 1

All out for 215

Watson out for 13

Cowan out for a duck

19 for 2

Finn's on a hat-trick

but Michael Clarke survives by a whisker

Clark out for a duck

22 for 3

Shane Watson and Michael Clarke both out cheapily - thank goodness!

Rogers out for 16

Close of play on day 1 Australia 75 for 4 with Smith on 38 and Hughes on 7 the not-out batsmen.

Early wickets for England on Day 2 are essential and hopefully if they bowl well a small first innings lead is achievable!

Smith out for 51

Haddin out for 1

113 for 6

Siddle out for 1

Starc out for a duck

114 for 8

Hughes is still in on 21 watching the devastation.

It's a sunny day at Trent Bridge so it's not yesterday's cloudy conditions. England's bowlers are getting the ball to reverse swing which is causing all sorts of problems for the Australians.

Pattinson out for 2

117 for 9

What a collapse!

Agar, the 11th man, is making a nonsense of what has happened before and is making a real fight back.

Agar has already broken the record for a debut 11th man in tests.

He won't be 11th man in future.

Incredible aggressive fight back from Australian 10^th wicket partnership; Agar and Hughes, to put them into an unlikely first innings lead

Ashton Agar is making the sort of test debut that dreams (or nightmares for England) are made of. At lunch 69 not out and if England don't wrap things up pretty quickly after lunch who knows what he'll get. He has singlehandly totally changed the game and swung it in Australia's favour. England are at a disadvantage with Broad unable to bowl adequately.

Trott can bowl a bit and I'm not sure if Pietersen is still able to.

Agar just missed out on a debut century falling at 98.

Hughes was not out on 81

Australia all out for 280 with a healthy lead of 65.

The conditions should favour England's batting for their second innings but this could well be one of the most extraordinary tests of all time and absolutely anything could happen in the next half hour

Root out for 5

Trott out for a duck

11 for 2

Could be all over today  -

Tea taken, Stark is on a hat-trick.

A spaceship has just landed at Trent Bridge and abducted the players.

It's quite possible that this could happen before the close of play.

Ashton Agar's parents were able to be at Trent Bridge today to watch their son's innings.

England have crawled into the lead without losing any more wickets.

England 80-2 at close of play with a lead of 15 runs.

Cook is on 37 and Pietersen on 35.

Tomorrow's forecast is sunny so that should benefit England.

Showers are forecast for Saturday afternoon and Sunday forecast to be cloudy at Trent Bridge. If England can keep batting throughout tomorrow they have a fair prospect of victory. A lead of 300 should be sufficient.

Cook and Pietersen were both stubborn in the final session which was exactly what England needed.

Perhaps the aliens could take away those that still believe Test cricket is boring...

Pietersen out for 64

Cook out for 50

Currently 143 for 4 leading by 78 runs.

Much will depend on Bell and Bairstow for England to have any chance of a win.

Bairstow out for 15.

Currently 196 for 5, a lead of 131 with Bell on 42 and Prior on 15

Prior out for 31

218 for 6, lead of 153

At tea England 230 for 6, a lead of 165 runs.

Bell is on 56 and Broad on 1.

Radio commentator suggesting England might declare but he's only joking.

England reaches 266 with no further wickets lost and so reach the first threshold of a 200 run lead, the minimum thought needed to have a fighting chance of beating Australia.

A rather controversial moment just now with Broad being given not out even though he was caught. The Australians are not happy but they have no reviews left. In the spirit of the game Broad should have walked off but didn't, but if the Australians had been in the same position would they? But then Trott's lbw decision when he was given out on a duck is somewhat questionable  - England have asked the ICC for clarification on this, not that it will have any effect on Trott's dismissal.

Then there was Agar's stumping which was not upheld.

And England now have a 250 run lead without losing any further wickets.

Close of play England 326-6 with a lead of 261 runs.

Bell not out on 95 and Broad not out on 47. The first half hour of tomorrow could be critical as Bell and Broad are so close to 100 and 50 and the bowlers will be going full out to get them out.