Australia has once again exerted its dominance over England and have set themselves up into a great position at the close of play on day one of the Third Ashes Test at the WACA. After bowling England out for 185, Australia replied to be two for 126 at stumps.

Nasser Hussain won the toss and was eager to bat. In the last two Tests, the backbone of England has been their batting rather than their bowling and with such a young and inexperienced line up, batting on a bouncy WACA pitch seemed a good option.

Yet, a similar story played out once again. With the Australian bowlers controlling proceedings and ensuring England suffered dually. Although facing the accurate Glenn McGrath and persistent Jason Gillespie was tough, Brett Lee proved to make the early inroads.

Replacing Andrew Bichel, Lee was eager to prove his position within the XI and started out well. Albeit the paceman was expensive, he did his job and took wickets. In his first he went for nine but reminded Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan the unpleasant experience of raw pace.

His next over though, Lee was on the mark and caught out Trescothick with poor footwork. Attempting to push at the ball, Lee got a faint edge with Adam Gilchrist taking a simple catch and Trescothick was on his way.

The right-hander though made 34 of the 47 runs in the opening partnership. He went out on the attack and lived dangerously, slashing balls to the slips and gully regions, which Steve Waugh had meretriciously protected. Though he was positive and riding out his luck, something that has been lacking within the England batsmen.

Mark Butcher went out in an aggressive frame of mind and took on the attack. Yet, he went cheaply for nine when some wonderful fielding form the Australian skipper caught Butcher out of his crease. After reacting to the call of `yes' from Vaughan, than a hasty `no', Butcher was left out in the lurch, Waugh threw down the stumps and hit middle to send the left-hander on his way.

The England skipper then came to the crease but could only add eight for his side's cause. Hussain trying to pull Lee got a slight noise off the shoulder of the bat and Gilchrist once again took the catch.

Vaughan and Robert Key then had to try to resurrect the England innings. Though after lunch, Vaughan did not last long and trying to hook McGrath, he got a thick outside edge for the wicketkeeper to clean up. Vaughan for his 34 played some shots, yet wasn't at his potential best.

Alec Stewart and Key combined momentarily and aimed to get the run rate climbing, though they ran into the two most experienced bowlers in Australia- McGrath and Shane Warne.

These two combined and effectively shut down both ends. Every now and then, Stewart and Key would get a ball away- leaving them considerably frustrated.

Stewart trying to shake off the shackles fell to a McGrath pearler on seven, when he got the bottom edge of his bat onto the ball and Gilchrist took a magnificent one-handed catch-managing just to get his glove under the ball.

Craig White, the last of the recognised batsmen to come in did not make an impression on the scorecard making a measly two. Beaten by a good length and good pace went to drive a Lee delivery and it flew to Damien Martyn at slips. White was Lee's 50th Test wicket in Australia.

Key realising he was left with bunnies aimed to get a move on and managed to smash Warne for a six. Warne got his first wicket when he ripped a leg break across the blade of Alex Tudor, which he pushed to Martyn at first slip. Tudor did not trouble the scorers.

A brilliant piece of captaincy by Waugh inspired the eight wicket and tea. He introduced Martyn into the attack to bowl into the wind- as Australia did not include a into the wind specialist- and with his fifth delivery he took Key to play onto his stumps. Key fell three short of his half-century.

After tea, Jason Gillespie wrapped up the tail taking the wickets of Chris Silverwood (10) and Steve Harmison (6).

Chasing 185, Australia was in good touch with Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden putting them in a good position. Langer, keen for runs ran himself out though when he called for a third.

Taking on Silverwood in the outfield, Langer (19) lost and was caught well short by the third umpire.

Hayden in his usual disregard for the fielding side tried to put Harmison over the fence and instead found Tudor at deep fine leg, who took the simple catch.

Ricky Ponting (43 not out) and Damien Martyn (20 not out) have continued to race Australia towards England's first innings total and will look to make a big score to even hurt England further.

© CricInfo Ltd.

This report does not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Cricket Board.