Mitchell Johnson made the most of the second new ball, taking two late wickets in front of a world record crowd on Thursday to leave England on a precarious 226-6 at stumps on the opening day of the fourth Ashes test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Australia leads the 5-test series 3-0.
Kevin Pietersen had two big reprieves to bring up a half century and anchor a dour England batting performance before Johnson (2—59 ) struck shortly before the close of play to remove Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.
Ryan Harris (2—32) claimed the important wicket of Ian Bell earlier in the third session.
A crowd of 91,092, a record for a single day of test cricket attended the opening day, surpassing the 90,800 set at the MCG in 1961.
Pietersen resumes on Friday on 67 from 152 balls with Tim Bresnan on 1.
Scoreboard
Alastair Cook c Clarke b Siddle 27
Michael Carberry b Watson 38
Joe Root c Haddin b Harris 24
Kevin Pietersen not out 67
Ian Bell c Haddin b Harris 27
Ben Stokes c Watson b Johnson 14
Jonny Bairstow b Johnson 10
Tim Bresnan not out 1
Extras- (10b,6lb,1w,1nb) 18
TOTAL- (for six wickets) 226.
Overs - 89. Batting time - 391 minutes.
Fall of wickets- 1—48, 2—96, 3—106, 4—173, 5—202, 6—216.
Still to bat- Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Monty Panesar.
Bowling- Ryan Harris 20—8—32—2, Mitchell Johnson 20—9—59—2 (1w), Peter Siddle 22—7—48—1 (1nb), Nathan Lyon 20.2—3—60—0, Shane Watson 6.4—2—11—1.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka.
TV umpire - Billy Bowden, New Zealand. Match referee - Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.