Out of the blocks

England and Simon Taufel off to a good start. Hoggard knocked over Kumble after having had a confident appeal turned down; replays showed Taufel right on both occasions; and then, Flintoff having a loud shout against Jaffer turned down; the replays showed Taufel to have done well again. Normally, replays are used to castigate umpires; I'm glad to see them highlighting an umpire's quality as well. Its nice to know he is going to be doing one end today on what will be a tight day's cricket (I'm not such a huge fan of Hair; I sense, about him, an attitude that isn't entirely pleasant).

Crowd noise is at pretty high levels, all of which makes for a great atmosphere on the fifth day's play of the final test of a tight series (I sense there might be some chanting competitions up in the stands between English and Indian fans).