One of Australia's batting heroes on the opening day of the fourth Test at the MCG, Matthew Hayden, was forced to concede that England's bowlers had posed more problems for him while he compiled his third hundred of the series than in other matches.

That was especially the case in the opening session when the Australians were prevented from running away to their customary frenetic start and, instead, were restricted to 88 runs in the morning.

"I thought they bowled well during that first session," he said. "Andrew Caddick started swinging the ball, which we haven't seen that much of, and they probably bowled as well as they have all summer during that first session.

"But I feel I'm seeing the ball really well, I'm seeing it almost too early and I had to keep clawing itself out for myself and try not to get too far ahead of myself."

England's bowling coach Graham Dilley agreed with Hayden: "If you look at the score it doesn't seem that much different but my impression was that we bowled with discipline and after that little spell after lunch when they scored a lot of runs we came back at them.

"356 for three looks like another normal day in Australia but I think there are things that we can take out of that performance."

One incident during the day illustrated that the hard but fair tradition of Ashes cricket lives on. When Australian captain Steve Waugh had made 58, he edged a ball from Caddick low to Mark Butcher at slip.

Butcher immediately acknowledged that the ball had not carried, but by then the matter had been referred to the third umpire who eventually confirmed Butcher's view. Waugh made a point of shaking hands with Butcher to thank him for his sporting gesture.

Butcher also received plaudits from Justin Langer, who was batting at the other end at the time.

"He showed great sportsmanship and that's the way the game should be played - it's to his great credit that he reacted the way professional sportsmen should react."

© CricInfo