Australia trailed England by 49 runs on 123-9 at the end of an extraordinary opening day of the Ashes series on Friday at Perth Stadium, where bowlers had very much the upper hand and a remarkable 19 wickets fell.

Mitchell Starc, spearheading the home attack in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, took a career-best 7-58 as Australia dismissed the tourists for 172 before tea.

The large visiting contingent in the crowd of 51,531 were soon in full voice, however, as England skipper Ben Stokes led a pace counter-offensive to rip through the Australian batting order and claim his own five-wicket haul with figures of 5-23.

Nathan Lyon, who was three not out, and debutant quick Brendan Doggett, who had yet to score, will resume on day two looking to cut a few more runs o

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