14 wickets fall on first day at Trent Bridge

Nottingham : It was a rollercoaster day at the Trent Bridge here Wednesday as 14 wickets fell on the first day after which Australia were left at 75 for four in the first innings against England in the first Ashes Test.

Australia’s fast bowling leader Peter Siddle came up with an awesome five-wicket performance as England was bowled out cheaply for 215 runs on day one.

A buoyant Australia, who left the field high on confidence, were soon left struggling after fast bowlers James Anderson and Steve Finn spit fire in the last one hour.

Finn gave the first breakthrough by getting rid of Shane Watson and then picked up Ed Cowan.

Anderson trapped Chris Rogers lbw and then produced a beauty to get skipper Michael Clarke out for a duck. Steve Smith was batting on 38 along with Phil Hughes on seven.

Earlier, Siddle, who was a doubtful starter due to unimpressive form in the run up to the Ashes, hit back at his critics as he tore apart the English batting with figures of 5-50.

James Pattinson, started the rot by getting rid of skipper and opener Alastair Cook (13) in the ninth over and then finished off by removing Greame Swann (1) and ended up with 3-69.

Mitchell Starc got consecutive wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Steven Finn near the death and missed out on a hat-trick when James Anderson bravely left a ball whizzing past his off stump. Starc finished with two for 54.

Left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, 19, made one of the most stunning debuts in Ashes history but went wicketless for 24 runs from his seven overs.