Siddle bags four, gives Australians the edge on day one

A fitting day of Test cricket which for sure has tilted in the favour of the title holders Australians after England were reduced t 307 for 8 with Peter Siddle taking four wickets on the first day of the deciding Test at the Oval here on Thursday.

For a change, every batsman from the hosts side got a start but could not go on to get the big score the team needed in a fifth Test they have to win to regain the Ashes but Australia needed only to draw to retain them, with the series level at 1-1. Ian Bell battled hard for 72 but was unable to claim a maiden Ashes hundred in his 13th Test against Australia. Jonathan Trott, making his Test debut, looked good in compiling 41 before he was spectacularly run out by Simon Katich while Strauss fell for 55.

Sadly for home fans, Andrew Flintoff – in his last Test before an injury-induced retirement – barely got going before he was caught behind off left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson for seven. Siddle, who took a trio of top-order wickets, ended play for the day when he had Graeme Swann caught behind, the fast bowler finish with figures of four for 63 in 18.3 overs. Bell fell to his first ball after tea when he played on to Siddle with a large gap between bat and pad.

His innings had 10 fours that saw him bat for nearly four hours but his exit left England wobbling at 181 for four after Strauss, had chosen to bat first on a typically good Oval pitch. It was a marked improvement after Bell had managed just 11 runs before twice falling to Johnson in England’s innings and 80 run fourth Test defeat at Headingley which saw Australia level the series at 1-1.

But, not for the first time in his 49-Test career, the 27-year-old left England thinking of what might have been.

“We didn’t really know how the wicket would play, it was pretty dry,” said Bell, whom television pictures suggested may have been bowled off a no-ball. “It was a tough day. You want to get big scores but the ball wasn’t really coming on and it made scoring hard.

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior briefly upped the tempo while Trott cover-drove Stuart Clark for four.But Johnson ended a stand worth 48 when he deceived Prior into playing too early, the ball looping to Shane Watson at point.

Flintoff walked out to a standing ovation. England’s top scorer in the drawn third Test at Edgbaston had been controversially left out at Headingley because the selectors feared his right knee problem would prevent him getting through the match. But further batting heroics would have to wait until the second innings after a flat-footed, edged cut was caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin. South Africa born Trott looked assured but, having walked forward and started to look for a single off part-time spinner Marcus North, he couldn’t beat short-leg Katich’s direct hit on the stumps. England, who’d lost three wickets for 39 runs, were now 307  for eight.

The Australians will be pleased by their effort and will be looking to finish off the English innings well before lunch to bat on this surface which looks quite even.