Siddle strikes but Cook fights for England

Tea England 4 for 172 (Cook 60*, Bell 26*) v Australia
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	Jonathan Trott misses his drive against Shane Watson © Associated Press Enlarge
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Peter Siddle gave England a mid-afternoon shock with two quick wickets after the visitors had fought back from the first-over loss of Andrew Strauss in Brisbane. Siddle bustled in on a slow surface to extract Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood in consecutive overs, leaving Alastair Cook to anchor the innings with a solid half-century which guided England to tea at 4 for 172 alongside a confident Ian Bell.

Cook and Pietersen added 76 to take England into the period where batsmen traditionally dominate in Australia once the ball has gone soft. However, Siddle, playing his first Test since January after suffering a stress fracture of his back, had been picked because of his ability to unsettle batsmen on good pitches and proved his worth. Pitching on a fuller length than his fellow quicks he made one move a fraction to find the edge of Pietersen's drive and produced a very similar delivery to have Paul Collingwood taken low at third slip.

Collingwood is known to be a dodgy starter but Pietersen had looked in fine fettle, as good as he has at Test level since before his Achillies injury. Pietersen's first boundary was a sweet straight drive and he wore the expression of a man on a mission as he picked off a further five fours. He also seemed intent on attack Xavier Doherty during an intriguing mini-battle and Australia were relieved to end it when they did.

Cook was one of England's batsmen to enter this series with an unflattering record against Australia and shouldn't have survived the first session when he was dropped at point on 26 by Doherty. That, though, was his only mistake as he refused to chase anything wide and waited for the bowlers to drift towards the pads.

 He pulled Mitchell Johnson through midwicket for his first boundary then started after lunch with a sweet clip and picked off Doherty with ease.

Bell, fresh from his superb 192 against Australia, began with two crunching cuts off Siddle and showed his intent by coming down at Doherty. Australia used up their second review when Simon Katich - fielding at short leg - was convinced Bell had edged behind off Johnson but there was no TV evidence to support him.

The beginning to such an eagerly anticipated series was always likely to be a nervous affair but England added another instalment to their list of horror starts. 

After events on this ground four years ago all eyes were on the first ball of the day and the opening delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus sailed harmlessly past off stump. However, it didn't take long for the series to burst into life as two balls later Strauss tried to cut one that was a little too close to his body and picked out Mike Hussey at gully.

The England captain stood there, head in hand for a moment, before turning for the dressing room as the Gabba erupted to the cheers of the home support. Strauss had made two hundreds during England's near-perfect warm-up period and Australia knew how vital the scalp was. It took the visitors until the third over to open their account and that was an edge to third man by Trott, who then had to survive a heart-stopping referral when Siddle's lbw shout was sent to the third umpire but pictures confirmed it was just clipping leg stump.

However, steadily he and Cook evened the scales. Trott provided some impetus with a neat flick through the leg side and two swivel-pulls to fine leg, but was also rather skittish at stages as he edged short of second slip and got a leading edge towards point trying to work through midwicket.

He had appeared to survive the examination when the ball was thrown to Shane Watson who started loosely, but Trott gave his innings away with a loose drive against an inswinger which took off stump. England believe they can target Watson as a weak link in the Australian attack so providing him an early wicket will have been a disappointment, but Watson's full length was a lesson to heed on this pitch.