England struggle on opening day

Alastair Cook fell to a spectacular catch as England's quest to regain the Ashes began tentatively in Cardiff.

Left-hander Cook became the first victim of the npower series in the eighth over when a forcing stroke away from his body was superbly clung to by a diving Michael Hussey in the gully.

The breakthrough came from nowhere, after the hosts won the toss, and put a spring in the step of a young Australia attack. It brought Ravi Bopara to the crease on the back of three hundreds in his last three Test innings and he immediately felt the heat despite the slowness of the pitch.

Australia turned again to Mitchell Johnson immediately after the drinks break when he replaced Hilfenhaus, who had delivered an excellent new-ball spell of 7-3-10-1 to justify his selection.

Hilfenhaus' withdrawal from the attack immediately released the shackles, with Johnson's first ball after the drinks interval being driven through point for another boundary.

Bopara continued to struggle in his attempt to find any fluency and clipped Johnson for two through mid-wicket later in the same over for his second scoring shot off his 21st delivery.

The Essex batsman then released the pressure on England by on-driving Siddle for a welcome boundary before hitting two fours in the next over from the same bowler, although he was a little fortunate with a flashy drive just over point for the first one.

Strauss, meanwhile, had looked comfortable and survived a strong shout for lbw from Johnson when umpire Billy Doctrove rejected the appeal believing the attempted yorker would have missed leg-stump.

It was only a temporary reprieve, however, with Strauss falling for 30 three balls later when he was surprised by a short ball, which he fended high in the air and allowed Michael Clarke to run back from slip to take the catch.