CRICKET/Ashes Test Series:As the sun began its descent into the Swan River, Australia came back hard at England in the final hour yesterday having had their noses pushed firmly out of joint for much of the opening day.
Glenn McGrath ploughed into the Fremantle Doctor while, from the Lillee-Marsh end, Brett Lee bowled with real pace, the pair of them removing Alastair Cook and Ian Bell respectively, the latter second ball for another Ashes duck.
The real menace, though, looked to come from Stuart Clark, honest fast-medium, who snaked ball after ball past Paul Collingwood's groping blade with no luck.
England were 51 for two in reply to Australia's 244 all out, a total held together by Michael Hussey's unbeaten 74.
Until that final session it had been an exhilarating day's play for England supporters, with Monty Panesar, given the chance he and the English nation, it seemed, craved, marked the occasion by becoming the first England spinner, and only the fourth in the 36-year history of Test cricket at the Waca, to take five wickets in an innings. Not even Warne has done it.
There is no doubting the charisma and energy Panesar brings to the side and the ringing applause as he ran triumphantly from the field came from supporters of both persuasions.
The performance of Steve Harmison should not be ignored, though, for no one, not even Ashley Giles, has had more brickbats thrown at him this series. Yesterday he was given something with which to work, not the Waca of old by a long chalk but a pitch that offered more encouragement than the morale-sapping strip in Adelaide, a sort of shock-absorber for the fast bang-it-in bowlers.
Four for 48 was his reward, including the top prize of Ricky Ponting, lbw before he was acclimatised, and Michael Clarke, who set off at such a gallop of high-class strokes the sky seemed the limit before he mistimed a pull back to the bowler having made 37.
Unnoticed, however, may have been the contribution made by Andrew Flintoff, with a piece of strategic captaincy that was impressive in its bravery and inspirational in the effect it must have had on his bowler. Trust is everything. The day had begun brilliantly for Panesar, selected ahead of Giles, and thrown the ball 10 minutes before lunch, Ponting having gone by now and Matthew Hayden earlier edging Matthew Hoggard to slip.
Hussey played out a careful maiden, each delivery nervelessly on target, each smothered with an identical forward stroke. A single over from Sajid Mahmood, given his place at the expense of James Anderson, left Panesar time for one more over in the session and his first ball somehow sneaked past the outside of Justin Langer's bat to clip the off-stump. Panesar gambolled his delight and high-fived his way round the square. Lunch can rarely have tasted better.
It was midway through the afternoon when Flintoff earned his stripes, for this game sees the return of Andrew Symonds, an underachieving Test batsman but a ferocious striker told to enjoy himself. He tucked into Panesar, clumping high and straight into the Prindiville Stand, then over long-on for six more.
A wider ball was lashed through extra cover and the over, Panesar's 13th, yielded 17 runs. Here then is the captain's dilemma. Does he protect the bowler from what might be further punishment? In which case the batsman has won. Or does he show confidence in himself and his bowler and face him down? Flintoff took the bolder route and ceded to the Australian brag that they would get after the young spinner.
Panesar's response was to get rid first of Symonds, cutting and edging to Geraint Jones, who held the catch at the second attempt, and then, with a superb piece of bowling, of Adam Gilchrist who poked forward stiffly and edged on to his pad, the ball ballooning into the air so that Bell was able to make good ground and hold a diving catch. After tea he removed Warne in a similar manner to Symonds and, if Lee was unfortunate to be given out lbw when he was all but treading on the umpire's toes, there were few in the record crowd who did not begrudge him his five-for. He joins Ian Botham, Bob Willis and Craig White, pacemen all, as the only England bowlers to claim that success here. He is, it is fair to say, a legend.
Scoreboard - First Day. Third Test - Australia v England (Perth)
Australia First Innings
J L Langer b Panesar 37
M L Hayden c G O Jones b Hoggard 24
R T Ponting lbw b Harmison 2
M E K Hussey not out 74
M J Clarke c & b Harmison 37
A Symonds c G O Jones b Panesar 26
A C Gilchrist c Bell b Panesar 0
S K Warne c G O Jones b Panesar 25
B Lee lbw b Panesar 10
S R Clark b Harmison 3
G D McGrath c Cook b Harmison 1
Extrasw1 nb4 pens 0 5
Total(71 overs) ... 244
Fall:1-47, 2-54, 3-69, 4-121, 5-172, 6-172, 7-214, 8-234, 9-242.
Bowling:Hoggard 12-2-40-1; Flintoff 9-2-36-0; Harmison 19-4-48-4; Panesar 24-4-92-5; Mahmood 7-2-28-0.
England First Innings Close
A J Strauss not out 24
A N Cook c Langer b McGrath 15
I R Bell c Gilchrist b Lee 0
P D Collingwood not out 10
Extrasnb2 pens 0 2
Total 2 wkts(14 overs) ... 51
Fall:1-36, 2-37.
To Bat:A Flintoff, K P Pietersen, G O Jones, M S Panesar, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison, S I Mahmood.
Bowling:Lee 5-0-24-1; McGrath 5-1-18-1; Clark 2-1-1- 0; Warne 2-0-8-0.
