England in command

The Lancashire seamer claimed five for 80 while Durham's Graham Onions recovered from his first day mauling to grab four for 58 as Australia slumped from 126 for one overnight to be dismissed for 263.

Although Alastair Cook fell early in England's reply, they remained the dominant force and reached 56 for one at tea on the second day trailing by 207 runs.

Onions gave England a flying start by claiming three for 13 in 27 balls including wickets with the first two balls of the day.

Shane Watson had hit an impressive 62 overnight but fell to the first ball of the day when he was hit on the pads and gave umpire Aleem Dar an easy decision and Onions' next ball removed new batsman Michael Hussey, who shouldered arms to a delivery slanted across him which clipped the top of off-stump.

Ricky Ponting had been quick to seize on any short deliveries, but was surprised by a quicker delivery which he attempted to pull and edged behind for 38 to earn Onions his third wicket of the morning.

Anderson then claimed five for 13 in 38 balls either side of lunch, although he was fortunate with two lbw decisions given by umpire Rudi Koertzen which removed Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson.

Despite Koertzen's generosity, Anderson was still a potent force and became the second England bowler of the session to be presented with a possible hat-trick opportunity after Marcus North was superbly caught in front of first slip by wicketkeeper Matt Prior and Johnson fell lbw to successive balls.

Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus both frustrated England's hopes of wrapping up the innings quickly, but Onions claimed his fourth wicket to end Australia's resistance mid-way through the afternoon session.

Alastair Cook fell without scoring, pushing outside off-stump and edging Siddle low to Graham Manou but Ravi Bopara combined with captain Strauss in an unbroken half-century partnership.