Australia is refusing to rule out a second-day comeback in the first men’s Ashes Test, despite England decimating the host’s batting line-up in Perth.
England gained the upper hand late on day one when its bowlers ripped through Australia’s first innings.
Australia reached stumps on a paltry 9-123, 49 runs shy of England’s first-innings total.
Veteran Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who claimed a career-best 7-58 with the ball on day one, said the home side should not be written off.
“It’s two innings of cricket,” Starc said after stumps.
“There’s a long time left in this series, and this game.
“No doubt the brains trust will have a chat and we’ll come here for day two with the same approach of being pretty calm and pretty level.”
England quick Jofra Archer (2-11 off nine overs) immediately put the Australians on the back foot in their innings.
Archer knocked Jake Weatherald off his feet to dismiss the debutant opener LBW, just two balls into his Test career.
Brydon Carse (2-45) and Gus Atkinson (0-19) also looked dangerous, while England captain Ben Stokes took 5-23 off just six overs.
Carse described Stokes as being in “beast mode” while also praising the rest of the pace attack.
“I thought we were quite relentless as a group of seamers and Ben rotated us well,” Carse said.
“It’s just a collective messaging throughout the group and everyone’s 100 per cent buying into that. We’re never going to shy away from that.
“Hopefully that relentlessness and passing the ball over to one another, and sticking to what we want to work towards as a group of seamers will pay us in good stead.”
Nathan Lyon (3 not out) and debutant quick Brendan Doggett (0 not out) will resume at the crease when day two gets underway.
AAP/ABC