(Cric Info) Michael Clarke perished in the minutes before lunch as an over-eager Australia offered England an avenue into the hosts’ middle order on day one of the third Ashes Test in Perth.
On the day both Clarke and his opposite number, Alastair Cook, reached 100 Tests, it was the visiting leader who went to the interval happier after plucking three wickets on a fast but flat surface.
James Anderson had given England a much-needed injection of belief by throwing out Chris Rogers from midwicket in the second over of the morning, before Shane Watson drove hastily at Stuart Broad and was well held in the slips.
The catcher, Graeme Swann, then coaxed Clarke to drive at the first ball of spin he faced, leaving a fluent David Warner and Steven Smith in the middle for the afternoon .
