Glenn McGrath claimed his 100th Ashes victim on the third day of the first Test at Brisbane, but insisted that his new-ball partner Jason Gillespie took the credit for another day of Australian dominance. "Dizzy has probably been the pick of our bowlers for quite some time, though he hasn't had the success," said McGrath. "Taking wickets will be something that he'll learn how to do. But if he keeps going as well as he has been he'll take plenty of wickets, so it's good for the future of Australian cricket."

"Dizzy helps me quite a bit," added McGrath. "He's been bowling well for quite some time now, with good pace, good bounce and very good control, and he bowled exceptionally well today. He probably got me a couple of wickets at the other end. I didn't bowl that well today, but I got a few in the right area and the pressure that Dizzy built up helped."

Gillespie overcame a calf problem to claim two key wickets with the second new ball - Nasser Hussain for 51 and Alec Stewart for a second-ball duck.

"I think Jason was going to bowl one way or the other today and I was hoping he'd push through it," said McGrath. "His calf did feel a bit tight today, but it didn't get any worse so that's a good sign. The way he bowled today was as if he was 100 percent fit."

Despite Australia's strong position, McGrath was taking nothing for granted. "We're not underrating England," he said. "We'll go out and play as well as we can and we know we'll be in for a tough fight every now and then. The score at the moment mightn't suggest it, but it's been pretty hard work out there at times. I think it'll be up and down tomorrow and will only get worse. The cracks are starting to open up so it's going to be tough work from here on in batting on that wicket."

That view was also held by John Crawley, who scored an important 69 not out in England's first innings. "The Australians have taken the game a little bit away from us," he said. "It's slightly disappointing after we had dragged ourselves back into the game yesterday, and we're going to have go hard in the morning. If we don't get three or four very quick wickets then we'll be fighting to save the game."

Crawley was one of four batsmen who reached 50 in England's innings, but none of them was able to post a century. "It's a shame that four or five of our guys couldn't go on and make a big score and it is what we must do for the rest of the series."

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