The Open - Day Two
Day one of this years open presented some very favourable scoring conditions, especially for the early starters. The winds were light and the players were able to fly the balls straight up to the hole.
Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, the two anti post favourites were able to take full advantage of these conditions to post minus seven and minus five respectively.
Six players sit one shot behind Johnson on six under par, these include former winner Paul Lawrie who will be delighted with an upturn in form.
The wind and rain is due to hit St Andrews tomorrow and Saturday, therefore having a good score already in the bag is a tremendous advantage. The early starters in the morning are sure to have an advantage as the wind will get stronger as the day goes on. Both Johnson and Spieth are teeing off mid afternoon so it will be interesting to see how they cope with a vast difference in conditions.
The Ashes
It was a completely dominant performance from Australia on day one finishing up 337/1 with the loss of David Warner the only blip on an otherwise flawless day. It appears that in preparing a slow pitch to stifle the two Mitchells, Starc and Johnson, they have prepared a track that is perfect for batting and a real struggle for the bowlers. It wasn't even that England bowled that badly, they did create a few chances that were missed, Smith and Rogers just made batting look so easy and were helped by an impeccable pitch.
Australia will look to really push on tomorrow and if possible get their score up to around 550-600 and have a go at England by the evening session.
England will hope that they can get a couple of early wickets, the new ball is only ten overs old, and expose the two debutants with an eye of keeping the score to a respectable amount. It will then be up to England to dig in and show the fight that will be required to save this match.
Rose Bowl Stakes
The Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury tomorrow at 15:40 is a 6 furlong sprint for two year old which has Listed status.
The William Haggas trained Tasleet really impressed my last time out with a ready victory and it appeared he had learned a lot from his debut performance where his ran green for most of the race and only began to 'get it' inside the final furlong. This is obviously far more competitive but I think he has a great chance here and will be backing accordingly.
Today's Bets
Newbury 15:40 Tasleet - 1 point @ 5/2