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PHOTOS: 4th Ashes Test, Day 1, Chester-le-Street
With figures of 4 for 42, spinner Nathan Lyon gave Australia the upper hand on Day 1 of the 4th Ashes Test at Chester-le-Street, County Durham, on Friday.
James Anderson (16 batting) and Tim Bresnan (12 batting) put up a late fight as England were 238 for 9 at close of play.
In what was probably one of the worst sessions England have played in the Ashes series so far, their batsmen failed to show any semblance of resolve, as they fell without a fight.
England batsmen put up barely a fight as they crumbled.
England won the toss; Aus make one change
Earlier, England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bat first.
The home team, who are 2-0 up in the five-match series and have already clinched the Ashes, named the same 11 players involved in the drawn third Test in Manchester last week.
Australia made one change, leaving out Mitchell Starc and bringing in Tasmania pace bowler Jackson Bird, 26, for his first appearance of the series.
"Jackson Bird is a wonderful young talent who's had a lot of success in first-class cricket in Australia," captain Michael Clarke said at the toss.
England make ultra cautious start
The England openers started very cautiously. While Joe Root got off the mark in the first over itself, it took Cook another four overs to get off the mark.
The ball wasn’t doing too much, but the batsmen played a watching game.
DRS comes into play again with Root dismissal
Root was the dominant of the two batsmen, pulling and driving when he spotted a bad ball.
In the 12th over he finally got the boundary he was searching for. He found the ropes with a sweetly-timed drive through the covers and to mark the first boundary of the match.
Root’s stay at the crease was cut short when he was caught behind off Shane Watson in the 17th over. Umpire Aleem Dar’s decision was challenged by Michael Clarke who was vindicated when the reviews caught a faint nick on HotSpot and Root had to go.
DRS comes into play again with Root dismissal
After lunch, both Cook and Trott began to see the ball more clearly, Trott in particular was the more aggressive of the two.
The 50 partnership came in the 35th over as Trott struck the second ball off the over away towards extra-cover for three.
Four overs later Trott struck a clean boundary to see England past the 100-run mark.
The Australian bowlers were also impressive not giving away too many easy runs. Bird’s bowling was especially noteworthy and before lunch Australia already had 12 maidens.
Australia then got the timely wicket of Trott for 49, caught by a diving Usman Khawaja at fine leg off the bowling of Nathan Lyon.
Lyon scalps Pietersen; Bird strikes to take first wicket in series
Pietersen then joined Cook in the middle and got going from the word go.
He struck two crisp boundaries off Lyon to make his intentions clear. But a few overs later Lyon has his revenge to have Pietersen caught behind by Haddin.
England slumped to further trouble when Cook offered no short to a Bird delivery that nipped back and hit him right on the pads.
Lyon had two wickets and Bird claimed his first in this series.
Bairstow, Prior, Swann played solid knocks down the order
Coming in after tea, Ian Bell was the first victim in the third session of play. He became Lyon’s third wicket when he was pouched at mid-off by Ryan Harris.
Then Jonny Bairstow and wicket-keeper Matt Prior stood their ground at the crease. Very little scoring was done but they ensured they kept the wickets in tact.
But then Peter Siddle has Prior LBW for 17 (off 58). Again the DRS came into play and Clarke got the decision to go his way.
Their 34-run partnership was painful to watch and was inclusive of just three boundaries.
Then Bairstow (14 off 72) was dismissed leg before by Lyon, thanks to DRS. Clarke gots three out three decisions in his favour.
Broad went back to pavilion soon after, caught Warner off Harris.
Ryan Harris ended the day with figures of 2 for 59 after he ended Greame Swann's mini fightback, having him caught by Lyon. Swann (13) played a cameo before losing his wicket.