Pendulum swing the Aussie way

Australia regained control of the opening Ashes Test on Saturday, ripping through the English batting order then building a commanding 278-r...

Australia regained control of the opening Ashes Test on Saturday, ripping through the English batting order then building a commanding 278-run lead with two days to go.

There was no repeat of England8217;s inspired fightback the previous day as the tourists collapsed to be all out for 325 after resuming at 158 for one.

SCOREBOARD

Australia 1st innings 492
England 1st innings: Overnight 158/1 M Trescothick c Ponting b McGrath 72, M Vaughan c Gilchrist b McGrath 33, M Butcher c Hayden b McGrath 54, N Hussain c Gilchrist b Gillespie 51, J Crawley not out 69, A Stewart b Gillespie 0, C White b McGrath 12, A Giles c Gilchrist b Bichel 13, A Caddick c Ponting b Bichel 0, M Hoggard c Hayden b Warne 4; Extras b-2, lb-8, nb-7: 17; Total For 9 wkts, in 106.5 overs: 325
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-170, 3-171, 4-268, 5-270, 6-283, 7-308, 8-308, 9-325
Bowling: McGrath 30-9-87-4, Gillespie 18-4-51-2, Bichel 23-4-74-2, Warne 26.5-4-87-1, Waugh 4-2-5-0, Lehmann 5-0-11-0

Australia 2nd innings: J Langer c Stewart b Caddick 22, M Hayden not out 40, R Ponting c Trescothick b Caddick 3, D Martyn not out 40; Extras lb-3, nb-3: 6
Total For 2 wkts, in 30 overs: 111
Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-39
Bowling: Caddick 10-0-42-2, Hoggard 11-2-26-0, White 4-0-26-0, Giles 5-0-14-0

Australia, ahead by 167 on the first innings, then tightened the screws on England, reaching 111 for two wickets at close for an overall lead of 278.

Matthew Hayden, showing no signs of fatigue after his first-innings 197, was not out 40 at the close of play with Damien Martyn also unbeaten on 40.

Somerset fast bowler Andy Caddick gave the tourists a brief glimmer of hope when he dismissed Justin Langer for 22 and first-innings century maker Ricky Ponting for three with a hostile opening spell.

But Hayden and Martyn put on 72 in an unbroken third-wicket stand to leave the England8217;s batsman facing the daunting prospect of having to save the Test on the final two days.

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Glenn McGrath finished with figures of four for 87 while fellow pacemen Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel captured two wickets each and leg spinner Shane Warne one. Marcus Trescothick top-scored for England with 72 while John Crawley finished not out 69. Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain also completed half centuries but none of the England players went on to reach a hundred.

After allowing England to fight their way back into the match the previous day, Australia were quick to reassert control of the match early on day three.

McGrath gave them the perfect start when he got rid of Butcher and Trescothick in the sixth over of the day.

The lanky paceman claimed his 100th Ashes wicket when he dismissed Butcher for 54 off the first ball of his 19th over. Reuters