So for the third successive Ashes Test ten wickets tumbled on the first day, and thankfully for England it was Aussie batsmen who were dismissed for just 268.
Chris Tremlett, in for Stuart Broad and making his first England appearance since 2007, justified his selection with a fearsome spell of bowling that unsettled the Aussie batsmen from the off.
But in truth it was a true team performance from England’s bowlers, with all the frontline attack claiming at least two wickets. Australia’s latest Test match scores have been poor, and this is down to some excellent work by England’s bowlers.
Phil Hughes and uncapped Steven Smith, newcomers to a re-jigged Aussie line-up, struggled, scoring just three and seven respectively as the hosts slumped to 69-5 after lunch.
Mike Hussey, Australia’s most consistent player so far this series, lead a spirited fight back with a dogged half century. But when Graeme Swann snared the edge of his bat for 61 Australia’s soft tail was exposed.
Credit to Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson, their late rally edged Australia towards a respectable score, but in truth the damage was done and they were merely making up for the mistakes of their team-mates above them.
With England safely seeing out the day with 29 on the board the stage is set or England to take complete control of this Test match and no doubt fans will be eagerly keeping an eye on the live match score.
If they can bat for the entire day tomorrow, entirely plausible given the form of England’s top six, then they build a commanding lead to put the home side under pressure once more.
With just one more victory needed to retain the Ashes, I feel that little urn moved closer towards English hands after day one at the Waca.
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