Strauss leads by example

Strauss (50no) and Ian Bell (41no) shared an unbroken stand of 96 as the hosts reached a promising 108 for one.

England had to recover from the early loss of Alastair Cook (10), who poked out at a useful delivery from Peter Siddle and was neatly caught at second slip by Ricky Ponting.

England's second-wicket pair then had to come through an awkward hour and a half - the first 15 minutes batting under lights as forecast cloud cover made for temporarily gloomy conditions.

But Strauss was not deflected from the obvious decision at the toss and did all he could with the bat before lunch to make his judgment look sound. His 89-ball 50 was notably fluent, featuring 10 sweetly-timed fours off Australia's four-man pace attack.

However, coming in at 12 for one and pushed back up to number three in England's middle-order reshuffle after their defeat at Headingley, Bell endured a predictably sticky start.

Before scoring, he was struck on the wrist by a short ball from Siddle - umpire Asad Rauf probably getting a close call right by giving Bell not out caught behind.

Ponting duly brought Mitchell Johnson into the attack - the left-armer saw Bell off in both innings in Leeds - and he again homed in on his intended target with more short stuff. Bell fell to a brute of a ball from Johnson on his first attempt at Headingley and survived this time without appearing to have a confident gameplan.

Strauss was more assured, twice picking Johnson off for impressive boundaries just behind square leg off his hip.

Johnson's first spell from the pavilion end conceded more than five an over and Ponting turned back to Siddle 20 minutes before lunch. By then, Bell had needed attention for a bruised knee but was otherwise looking more comfortable as he and Strauss scored at a pleasing rate and closed out the session.