In a dramatic twist, Australia has actually competed with England in the Ashes. Australia showed its batting isn't quite as limp as many have made it out to be, and umpiring once again fell under the spotlight. ANTOINETTE MULLER picks five talking points from day one at Old Trafford.

Something strange happened in Manchester on Thursday. Australia won the toss, chose to bat and didn't completely embarrass itself. The visitors made two changes to their side, swapping Ashton Agar and Phil Hughes for Nathan Lyon and David Warner respectively.

Australia passed 300 for the first time in seven innings, and only for the third time this year, as Michael Clarke and Steve Smith combined for an unbeaten 174-run partnership. Australia ended the first day on 303-3 in the sweltering heat. Equally hot were the debates around umpiring and everything else that happened on the field. We've picked five of the main talking points from day one of the third Ashes Test.

DRS and umpires

Another day, another umpiring controversy. The powers that be might as well remove the sponsor's name from the series and call it the DRS Ashes. The culprit this time was the third umpire. Usman Khawaja was...