Monty Panesar captured five wickets on his Ashes debut to help England bowl out Australia for 244 before struggling to 51-2 on the opening day of the third Test on Thursday.
The left-arm spinner claimed the scalps of Justin Langer, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Brett Lee to finish with figures of 5-92 and become the first English spinner to take five Test wickets in an innings at the Waca ground.
Strike bowler Steve Harmison also rediscovered his form to take 4-48, including the prize wickets of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, as England’s bowlers enjoyed their best day of the series.
England’s batting, however, which collapsed in the Adelaide Test to hand Australia a 2-0 lead in the series, looked shaky once again.
Opener Alastair Cook continued his poor run when he departed for 15 and Ian Bell went for a second-ball duck, leaving Andrew Strauss (24 not out) and Paul Collingwood (10 not out) to battle through to stumps.
Cook was caught by Langer at fourth slip off Glenn McGrath and Bell edged express paceman Lee to wicketkeeper Gilchrist with the two wickets falling in the space of six deliveries.
Collingwood, who made a double-century in the last Test, had a lucky escape on four when Warne dropped a regulation slip catch off the bowling of Stuart Clark.
The only Australia batsmen to make a significant score was left-hander Mike Hussey, who finished unbeaten on 74 after chalking up his fourth successive half-century of the series.
Hussey made 86 in Australia’s 277-run victory in Brisbane and 91 and 61 not out in Adelaide. Another fine innings in Perth gave him 312 runs for the series at an average of 156.
Panesar was controversially overlooked for the first two Tests but was finally given his chance when the English selectors dropped the ineffective Ashley Giles. They also replaced seamer James Anderson with Sajid Mahmood.
Panesar’s omission from the first two Tests appeared even more baffling when he claimed a wicket with his seventh delivery, bowling Langer with the last ball before lunch.
The left-arm spinner claimed a second scalp before tea when Symonds nicked a catch to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones and a third when Gilchrist was caught by a scrambling Bell at short leg for a duck.
Warne was also caught behind and Lee was trapped lbw, giving Panesar his third five-wicket haul in only his 11th Test and cementing his place in the team.
Sharp return
Harmison, who had taken just one wicket in the series after erratic displays in Brisbane and Adelaide, rediscovered his line and length at the perfect time to trap Ponting lbw for two and held a return one-handed catch to remove Clarke for 37.
The tall fast bowler then polished off the tail by dismissing Clark and McGrath. The reliable Matthew Hoggard finished with 1-40 after making the initial breakthrough to remove Matthew Hayden for 24. — Reuters