BIRMINGHAM: England paceman James Anderson ripped shell-shocked Australia to shreds with six wickets to bowl the tourists out for a paltry 136 on the first day of the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Anderson took six for 47 and fellow quicks Stuart Broad and Steven Finn, on his Test return after a two-year absence, two apiece as rejuvenated England put their heavy second Test defeat at Lord’s firmly behind them.

In gathering gloom, England were 7-0 in reply before rain forced the players off for tea.

Only plucky opener Chris Rogers, passed fit after suffering dizzy spells at Lord’s, offered resistance with a half-century for Australia who failed to cope with the seam and swing-friendly conditions after winning the toss and batting first.

Rogers was eighth man out for 52, lbw to Broad, and Anderson fittingly took the final wicket when Nathan Lyon played on as Australia were dismissed in just 36.4 overs.

Anderson, who went wicketless in London where Australia squared the series with a 405-run victory after losing the opener in Cardiff, took four wickets in 19 balls after lunch.

His quickfire burst started when he had Adam Voges caught behind for 16. Mitchell Marsh (0) also nicked a swinging delivery to Jos Buttler and then Peter Nevill’s bad misjudgement saw him bowled for two without offering a shot.

England’s leading wicket-taker in Tests then bagged his 18th five-wicket haul when Mitchell Johnson (3) sliced to fifth slip.

Australia lost three wickets in a rain-interrupted morning with Finn, branded ‘unselectable’ by former England limited overs coach Ashley Giles 18 months ago due to a breakdown in his bowling action, took the scalps of Steve Smith (7) and skipper Michael Clarke (10).

After Anderson had given England a flying start by trapping David Warner (2) lbw, Finn, recalled in place of an unfit Mark Wood, found bounce and movement on the quickest pitch of the series so far.

Quickly working up a head of steam, Finn made an immediate impact when he got Smith to nick to Alastair Cook at first slip with the last ball of his first over.

He then bowled Clarke with a full and straight delivery to leave Australia reeling on 38-3 before Rogers and Voges held firm until lunch.

It quickly got much worse. In the second over after lunch, Australia was 77-4 with Voges caught behind by Jos Buttler off Anderson for 16. Voges appeared to reluctantly knick the ball, paying for his casualness as his 43-run stand with Rogers ended.

That soon became 82-5 when all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was also caught behind for a duck off Anderson after trying to drive a tempting ball around off stump.

Australia dropped to 86-6 when Nevill was dismissed by Anderson who by then had had three wickets for three runs in an 11-ball spell.

Johnson was around long enough, just, to get his 2,000th run in Test cricket but was out at 94-7, caught beautifully low by Ben Stokes, to give Anderson his fifth wicket and 5-22 at that point, with 4-7 in 19 balls after lunch.

Amid football-style chanting of ‘England, England’ by the sell-out crowd of around 25,000, Rogers advanced to his 50 off 82 balls with nine fours. At that stage, he had more than half his side’s score with Australia on 98-7.

The 100 came up in the 30th over, including 15 boundaries, but Rogers was finally trapped on 110-8 by Broad. Australia took their final appeal but Rogers was forced to walk with the ball clearly heading for middle stump.

Mitchell Starc was out for 11, making it 119-9, falling in a Broad wicket maiden.

Josh Hazelwood had little choice but to hit out for an undefeated 14, and the innings ended with Nathan Lyon bowled by Anderson for 11.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings):

C.J.L. Rogers lbw b Broad 52 D.A. Warner lbw b Anderson 2 S.P.D. Smith c Cook b Finn 7 M.J. Clarke b Finn 10 A.C. Voges c Buttler b Anderson 16 M.R. Marsh c Buttler b Anderson 0 P.M. Nevill b Anderson 2 M.G. Johnson c Stokes b Anderson 3 M.A. Starc c Buttler b Broad 11 J.R. Hazlewood not out 14 N.M. Lyon b Anderson 11

EXTRAS (LB-7, NB-1) 8

TOTAL (all out, 36.4 overs) 136

FALL OF WKTS: 1-7, 2-18, 3-34, 4-77, 5-82, 6-86, 7-94, 8-110, 9-119.

BOWLING: Anderson 14.4-2-47-6; Broad 12-2-44-2; Finn 10-1-38-2 (1nb).

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

A. Lyth not out 1 A.N. Cook not out 6

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for no wkt, 3.5 overs) 7

TO BAT: I.R. Bell, J.E. Root, J.M. Bairstow, B.A. Stokes, J.C. Buttler, Moeen Ali, S.C.J. Broad, S.T. Finn, J.M. Anderson.

BOWLING (to-date): Starc 2-1-1-0; Hazlewood 1.5-0-6-0.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: M. Erasmus (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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