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Graveney's Ashes record is something to turn Freddie and KP green with envy - three series wins. May scored 1,566 runs against the old enemy in 21 Tests, averaging 46 at a time when 40 was considered the mark of a class batsman.

Chappell's stats are even better: 2,138 runs in 30 Ashes Tests, including four tons and 14 half-centuries. He was a key part of the Australia side that destroyed England 4-1 in the 1974-5 series down under and then went on to retain them in the next showdown.

Cardiff stood to applaud them, and as it did, idle thoughts turned to which of the current players will one day join them in the pantheon.

Ponting, certainly. Flintoff, possibly. Pietersen - well, he'd be furious if he doesn't.

Fancy-dress fans

About time we had a little colour in this blog, no?

A little post-lunch dash around the ground always yields a decent harvest, and Thursday by the Taff was no exception.

Worried before the series that Australian fans wouldn't be up for this?

Rest easy. This bloke's gone bananas.

At times on the first afternoon it got a little quiet.

Not anymore. After that flaying from the England tail-enders and the spicy start to Australia's innings, there was a carnival atmosphere in Cardiff.

Wouldn't want to be sitting behind that plume, would you? You would?

Hughes the new kid

Thursday lunchtime, and the first joust in an Ashes Test for the much-vaunted young opener Phillip Hughes.

The 20-year-old's form and pedigree have been one of the most intriguing sub-plots in the build-up to this series. Hayden gone, Langer at Taunton - whether the new leftie succeeds or fails over the next seven weeks could have a big impact on which way the result goes.

So how did he look?

His first ball against England was a nasty one - a rapid inswinger from Anderson that had him jumping high and wearing one on the thigh pad - but he soon settled into the groove he found in his .

When Stuart Broad dropped short, Hughes cut and drove off the back foot for two early fours. Broad was aiming to repeat the short, nasty stuff dished out by , but there was too much width and Hughes raced to 22 from his first 26 balls.

Hughes' style is substance over beauty. There's a wide, open stance, a whole heap of twitching as the bowler enters his delivery stride and a little back foot stepaway towards the leg stump to give himself room.

Of early nerves there was little sign. He was happy to hog the strike off his more experienced partner Simon Katich, facing every ball but one in the first four overs, and soon forced Andrew Strauss to push Ravi Bopara from backward point out into a boundary-saving sweeper slot.

There's been questions about how well Hughes moves his feet against spinners. When Strauss turned to Graeme Swann in the last two overs before lunch, the tyro kept the aggression housed and went watchful to the interval.

28 not out at the break. As starts go, it's rock solid.

The tail that wags

Is there anything that hurts a toiling team quite as much as being ?

Before the start of play, the consensus was that England needed to get past 380 to get full value for batting first on this track, but even their most rabid supporters didn't expect Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson - and then Graeme Swann - to lay waste with quite as much joyous success as they did.

40 runs off the first six overs of the day. A partnership between Anderson and Swann of 50 off their first 38 balls together.

In a Test like this, when the two teams are so evenly matched, these sort of last-gasp stands can make all the difference between victory and defeat.

It's not merely the runs on the board, but also the way the momentum is seized. The Cardiff crowd was quiet at the start, wondering whether and Peter Siddle would rattle through the remaining three English wickets before the Aussie openers piled on the runs.

Half an hour into the day, it had all changed - fans on their feet, flags being waved, songs being sung. Reverse sweeps from a no.8 tend to have that effect. It doesn't do any harm that had a face even darker than the clouds lurking over Cardiff Bay.

For England supporters these feel like bonus runs. But as 2005 taught us, they could turn out to be as important as anything contributed by the established top six.

NB I'll have eyes on this blog all day, so pile in for a chin-wag whenever the mood takes.