ENGLAND again struggled to find a successful bowling strategy after their attack failed to halt Australia’s progress towards a crucial lead in the opening Ashes Test.

Having been unable to make much of an impact on Australia’s top order during a one-sided second day in Cardiff, England knew they would have to make a big improvement if they were to remain competitive in the npower series.

It was an objective they achieved during the third morning with James Anderson utilising the increased swing with the second new ball to dismiss Simon Katich and Michael Hussey, while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar claimed the scalp of Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

But after losing three wickets in 63 balls, Australia underlined the impotency which has plagued England for the last year, with Michael Clarke and Marcus North forging a 143-run stand which was only broken after a two-hour break for afternoon showers.

Even then it took unfamiliar conditions to end their stand, with Clarke falling for 83 after Cardiff became the first ground in Britain to use floodlights for a Test following an agreement they could be used between the two captains before the series began.

That late wicket, which fell just two overs before the limitations of the lights were exposed with play ending for bad light, still left Australia 44 runs ahead on 479 for five.

Australia’s strong position also underlined England’s continued failure to claim the 20 wickets required to win a Test having only achieved that objective three times – twice in the recent home series against West Indies – in the last 12 Tests.

Resuming the third morning still trailing by 186 runs on 249 for one with overnight batsmen Ponting and Katich unbeaten on centuries, Australia progressed comfortably until England took the new ball in the ninth over of the day.

Straight away they posed a greater threat with Ponting giving them encouragement by twice driving close to gully before Anderson swung a fulllength delivery into Katich’s front pad to end Australia’s productive 239-run secondwicket stand.

Katich’s 122 had not been as fluent as Ponting’s innings, but had proved crucial in establishing Australia’s dominance, which was undermined further six overs later when Hussey attempted to drive Anderson outside offstump and edged behind.

Lancashire seamer Anderson had claimed two wickets in 14 balls to leave Australia under pressure for the first time since their innings began a day earlier, although Ponting remained composed and reached his 150 as lunch approached.

But for nearly the first time in his innings spanning over five hours at the crease, Ponting finally mis-timed an attempted shot when he rocked back to cut a short delivery from Panesar and got a bottom edge on to his stumps.

For the first time since the start of their innings Australia had two new batsmen at the crease and were still 104 runs from parity and England sensed their chance of launching a fightback.

Instead of delivering hostile spells at the new pair immediately after lunch, England captain Andrew Strauss surprisingly relied on an out-oftouch Stuart Broad and spin pair Panesar and Graeme Swann to little effect.

Both batsmen progressed serenely towards half-centuries to lay the foundations for Australia to establish a major lead in the final session.

England were fortunate that only three overs into that last session an unscheduled shower halted play for a further two hours, enough time to allow them to regroup and ensure both batsmen needed to set themselves at the crease again once play restarted under the lights.

Clarke mis-timed a pull off Broad and gloved the ball behind five overs after the restart, a timely breakthrough for England, not least because play was brought to a halt by the inferior light two overs later.

Scoreboard

England v Australia At Cardiff

Overnight: England 435 (K P Pietersen 69, P D Collingwood 64, M J Prior56). Australia 249-1 (S M Katich 104 no, R T Ponting 100 no).

Australia First Innings Close

S M Katich lbw b Anderson .................122

R T Ponting b Panesar .......................150

M E Hussey c Prior b Anderson ............ 3

M J Clarke c Prior b Broad ....................83

M J North not out ................................54

B J Haddin not out .............................. 4

Extras (b8 lb12 w2 nb5 pens 0) ..27

Total 5 wkts (139 overs)..........479

Fall: 1-60 2-299 3-325 4-331 5-474

To Bat: M G Johnson, P M Siddle, B W Hilfenhaus, N M Hauritz.

Bowling: Anderson 24-5-80-2. Broad 26-4- 101-1. Swann 28-8-86-0. Flintoff 29-3-104- 1. Panesar 27-4-78-1. Collingwood 5-0-10-0