Day two of the first Ashes Test is over and Australia is leading the charge. At stumps yesterday the Aussies had racked up 1/249 as they chase down England’s first innings score of 435.

The Poms had a fairly up-and-down couple of days on the pitch, with some players shining, while others utterly underachieved. Michael Hussey drew first blood by catching young opener Alastair Cook for only 10 off a Ben Hilfenhaus ball.

Strauss and Bopara both lost their wickets soon after and the English seemed to be falling apart at 3/90. But it was Pietersen and Collingwood that gave their team some steady form to reach 228 without another wicket lost. Once that wicket came, however, it was all downhill. Hilfenhaus took Collingwood, then Nathan Hauritz got Pietersen soon after. England almost showed signs of revival with Flintoff and Prior, but both fell within two runs of each other at 329.

The Poms then tried to revitalize their game by sending in nightwatchman James Anderson to protect Stuart Broad, and he did a fairly good job of it, making a tidy 26 before Hussey and Hauritz combined to knock England down to 9/423. Swann played exemplary cricket, making 47 not out before Panesar fell as the tenth wicket on the second day of play.

Australia was then sent into bat and they started off very quietly. Young Aussie sensation Phil Hughes didn’t look comfortable on the Cardiff pitch and was eventually caught off a tricky Flintoff ball for only 36.

With Hughes’s dismissal, the captain Ricky Ponting arrived to partner Simon Katich, and I’m sure part of both of them wanted to bury the demons of their 2005 Ashes tour. Incredibly, both Ponting and Katich scored centuries before the end of play (Katich 104 from 219 balls and Ponting 100 from 155 balls). For Katich it was his maiden Ashes ton and couldn’t have come at a better time.

Australia now go into day three with all the momentum and will be hard to stop. However, the Cardiff wicket has been greening over of late and may be more difficult to score off as the Test progresses; Australia’s decision to include two spinners in their eleven now seems like it was the right call.

BetUS has posted odds on who will win the first Test as well as the entire series. After the Cardiff Test is over we’ll all have a better idea of who will have the momentum to take out the series.