Openers give England solid start

Replying to the tourists' 176 all out, the pair made a confident start to give their side a golden opportunity of avoiding a 7-0 NatWest Series whitewash, putting on 104 in the first 20 overs.

Strauss departed in the 21st over, caught by Ben Hilfenhaus off the bowling of Nathan Hauritz three runs short of his half-century.

England's cause was helped in no small part by Brett Lee's first over, which went for nine runs, only three of them off the bat, and the batsmen took full advantage.

It took Denly 12 balls to get off the mark with a single, but he quickly found his feet and hit successive fours, the first a crashing cover drive off Hilfenhaus as the home side reached 35 off the first six overs.

The introduction of Mitchell Johnson and spinner Hauritz to the attack gave Ponting a greater measure of control after Hilfenhaus' first four overs had gone for 32, although Denly brought up the 50 with a thick outside edge down to third man in the 12th over.

But Johnson's third over went for 15, including three boundaries as Strauss and Denly restored the momentum to coast to three figures.

However, it was Graeme Swann's earlier contribution with the ball which paved the way for what was to follow as he ripped through the Australian middle order to claim a first five-wicket haul with openers Shane Watson and Tim Paine having been dispatched with just 17 runs on the board.

He broke what had started to look like a formidable 79-run third-wicket partnership between Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke when he had the skipper caught at short mid-wicket by Paul Collingwood for 53 in his first over.

Eoin Morgan and Collingwood teamed up to run out Clarke for 38, but Swann then accounted for Cameron White, James Hopes, Johnson and Lee to return career-best one-day international figures of five for 28 as the tourists posted only 176 off 45.5 overs.