Aussies Draw First Blood

Australia took a 1-0 lead in the Ashes series when it beat England by 277 runs in the first Test at the Gabba today.

It took the home side just 20.1 overs on the fifth morning to claim England's last five wickets, and the Australians were jubilant when Stuart Clark's fourth wicket finished off the match. England was all out for a commendable 370 in its second innings. Brett Lee landed the biggest body blow when he removed Kevin Pietersen with the fourth delivery of the day, all but ending any hopes the tourists had of batting out the day to save the match. Pietersen did not add to his overnight score of 92 and was on his way when he spooned a catch off his pads straight to Damien Martyn at mid-wicket. Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark then cleaned up the innings before lunch. Australia's massive win was on the cards from day one, when captain Ricky Ponting's century set his side up for a massive first innings score. Australia declared at 9-602 late on day two and then bowled England out for 157. Ponting opted not to enforce the follow-on despite holding a 445-run lead on the first innings and the home side declared a second time at 1-202, before lunch yesterday, which set England a victory target of 648. Thunderstorms were forecast for later today, but the Australians made sure the weather never became a threat. The match highlights for Australia included Ponting's first innings 196, Justin Langer's fine double of 82 and 100 not out, McGrath's 6-50 in his comeback match in England's first innings, Clark's match return of 7-93, and 4-124 to Shane Warne in the tourists' second dig. England's best day was easily the fourth, when Pietersen and Paul Collingwood (96) launched a counter-offensive which halted Australia's progress after the first three days of domination. In further good news for the Australians, Ponting took the field today after spending yesterday off the ground because of a back problem, while McGrath appeared unhampered by a slight heel injury. Both sides are likely to think long and hard about personnel changes for the second Test in Adelaide, which starts Friday. Australia is likely to consider allrounder Shane Watson depending on how he recovers from a hamstring strain, while legspinner Stuart MacGill could be an option on the spin-friendly Adelaide Oval. However Clark's impressive return with the ball, of 3-21 and 4-72, almost gurantees him another game, while batsman Michael Clarke, who replaced Watson, made 56. The second Test squad is expected to be named later today.