By IANS,
Nottingham: England hit back at Australia to claim four wickets for 75 after being dismissed for 215 in the first innings on the opening day of the first cricket Test of the Ashes series here at Trent Bridge Wednesday.
All the 14 wickets to fall during the day were picked up by fast bowlers.
Peter Siddle first rocked the Englishmen when they decided to bat on winning the toss. He had a fifer (5/50) and he was well supported by James Pattinson (3/69) Mitchell Starc (2/54).
When Australia went in, James Anderson and Steven Finn shared the first four wickets with Stuart Broad off the field after he was hit on the shoulder while batting.
Australia at stumps were 140 runs adrift of England total with Steve Smith (38) and Phil Hughes (7) fighting it out when umpires called off play for bad light with eight overs still to be bowled.
On a cloudy day with light towers on for most of the time, Siddle, Pattinson and Starc kept relentless pressure on the English batsmen. There was no hint of the turn of events in the second session when they went in for lunch at 98 for two. What must have hurt England more was the top six batsmen got the starts but could not build on.
Jonathan Trott was the top-scorer with 48 and the new opener Joe Root chipped in with 30. Ian Bell (25) and Jonny Bairstow (37) stood their ground for quite a while before getting out.
Siddle ran through the middle order soon on resumption after lunch while Pattinson and Starc polished off the lower order not allowing the tail to wag.
Australia sprang a surprise in the morning when they capped 19-year-old left-arm spinner Ashton Agar instead of the experienced off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
Agar, the 16th teenager to play for Australia, played only 10 first-class matches and returned with figures of 0/24 from seven overs.
England preferred Finn over all-rounder Tim Bresnan.
Brief scores:
England 215 in 59 overs (Joe Root 30, Jonathan Troptt 48, Ian Bell 25, Jonny Bairstow 37, Stuart Broad 24, James Pattinson 3/69, Mitchell Starc 2/54, Peter Siddle 5/50)
Australia 75 for 4 in 21 overs (Streven Smith batting 38, Chris Rogers 16, Shane Watson 13, James Anderson 2/25, Steven Finn 2/37)