Ashes First Test 2009, The

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England won the toss and captain Andrew Strauss chose to bat. England slumped to 90/3 early but recovered with a fine partnership of 138 runs between Pietersen and Collingwood. Hauritz dismissed Pietersen for the crucial fifth wicket when he offered a simple catch to short leg, attempting to sweep from outside the off stump. England ended the day at 336/7 after Siddle picked up two crucial wickets in the last four overs of play.

Swann's unbeaten 47 off 40 balls took England to 435. Australia's openers started brightly facing eight overs before lunch. Flintoff, the fastest bowler in the match, captured the only English wicket when Hughes's bottom-edge was well caught by Prior. Katich and Ponting steadily took control with sensible batting. Ponting reached a major milestone in his career scoring his 11,000th run and joining Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Allan Border in a very exclusive club. By the end of the day both batsmen had scored centuries, Katich's first against England and their unbeaten partnership of 189 runs had Australia at 249/1 at stumps.

Katich and Ponting added 50 runs to the overnight total before their partnership was broken by Anderson who had been given the new ball earlier. Anderson collected his second wicket of the day (Hussey) when Prior took an easy catch. Ponting was soon to follow crashing his stumps as he attempted a cut shot of Panesar. After lunch, Australia consolidated their position without losing a wicket and passing England's total and at tea were 458/4. Play was delayed unexpectedly for two hours due to rain and when play resumed it was under lights – the first time artificial light was used in a Test Match in Britain. At stumps Australia were in a strong position with 5 wickets in hand and a lead of 44 runs.

Resuming in fairly muggy, heavy clouded conditions North and Haddin punished the English attack. North reached his deserved century scoring centuries on both his Test and Ashes debuts. At lunch Australia had reached 577/5. After lunch, Haddin became the destroyer-in-chief, flicking three successive Anderson deliveries to the boundary and closed in on his second Test ton with booming sixes off the ineffective English attack. When Haddin was finally dismissed, Ponting declared the Australian innings at 674/6, the largest total against England since 1934 and fourth highest in The Ashes series. In the short time before tea England failed miserably to hold on, losing Cook and Bopara. The rain started as tea was taken and play ended for the day with England 219 runs behind and in dire straits to save the match.

Resuming on 20/2, England lost three wickets in the first 90 minutes of play and reached lunch on 102/5. Paul Collingwood lasted 245 balls and batted for five hours and 43 minutes before being caught in the slips. The last man partnership of Anderson and Panesar managed to bat England into a lead. With every dot ball cheered, they managed to bat until 18:40 to secure a draw.

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