250 years ago, Captain James Cook and his ship the HMS Endeavour landed at Kamay (Botany Bay) on the eastern coast of Australia. He was in the middle of a months-long exploration of the eastern coast. His crew first spotted the Australian mainland on 11th April 1770, and they left Australian waters after taking possession of the continent in the name of King George III on 22nd August.

This was not the first visitation of Australia by Europeans. That honour goes to Dutch sailor Willem Janszoon in his ship the Duyfken in 1606. Dutch & Portuguese sailors & traders continued to visit the north and west coasts for the next couple of centuries. They called the continent "New Holland".

But Cook represented the first European power to assume possession of the continent. 18 years later, the English sent their First Fleet of convict ships to the land of New South Wales.

250 years since Captain Cook arrived in Australia, his legacy remains fraught

What Australians often get wrong about our most (in)famous explorer, Captain Cook

For Indigenous people, Cook's voyage of 'discovery' was a ghostly visitation

Urgh, this is not amazing cricket so far. There's been some good play in parts but overall it feels fairly scrappy from both sides. How many catches have the English slips dropped so far? (mind you, the Indians dropped a few this afternoon too)

My cricket coach at school was a delightfully gnarly old Yorkshire dude who would repeatedly drill into us "catches win matches lads, catches win matches" before making us do more catching drills.

I feel like I've been defending Cooke's performance for too many years now, I can't believe we don't have someone else who can open the batting reliably. He doesn't need to hit out, just stay in. On the plus side, Sam Curran seems to be finding his feet. He's only 20 but I feel like he could go far. He might have saved this match for England today.

OK, so I started writing this post while watching the highlights, just as England's second innings finished and now, just a few minutes later India are down five wickets, 84 needed to win, and England's bowling attack are on fire. It's all got very interesting all of a sudden.

Non-cricket fans - the Test format is the one you guys generally seem to particularly baffling/frustrating. It's a five day match where nothing can happen for hours on end, and the game can end with no winner.