PERTH: Dawid Malan struck England’s first century of the Ashes series as the tourists saw off Australia’s marauding pace attack to emerge on top of an enthralling first day of the third Test in Perth on Thursday.

After Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat, Malan’s unbeaten 110 helped the tourists to breathe life back into their Ashes defence by countering hostile bowling on a bouncy WACA Ground wicket hosting an Ashes Test for the last time.

Malan anchored a flourishing 174-run stand with wicket-keeper Jonny Bairstow (75 not out), the pair pushing England to 305 for four at the close of a glorious day in the Western Australia capital.

Root and his predecessor Alastair Cook may have failed with the bat, but the skipper won perhaps the most important contest of the day when he guessed correctly at the toss and opted to bat first.

Criticised for electing to bowl in the second Test defeat in Adelaide, Root was rewarded this time with three of his batsmen passing 50.

“Tomorrow [Friday] the first hour is crucial for us,” Malan told reporters after celebrating his maiden ton in his eighth Test. “We’re going to have to be quite ruthless the way we play on Friday morning and put them under pressure, get some more overs into their legs.”

Australia’s pacemen were generally superb through much of the day and breathed fire in some hostile spells before the tea interval, but the quicks were let down in the field by three dropped catches.

The last of them reprieved left-hander Malan on 92 off the first delivery with the second new ball from a frustrated Mitchell Starc late in the day.

Coaxing a thick edge from the England number five, Cameron Bancroft dived across from third slip in front of his captain Steve Smith to grass the chance.

“Obviously no one goes out trying to drop catches but I think when the wicket’s that flat and it’s that hard for our bowlers, it’s certainly disappointing,” Australia wicket-keeper Tim Paine said.

The 30-year-old Malan went on to raise his century in style, pulling paceman Josh Hazlewood to the fence to trigger a standing ovation from a crowd of 22,148, having faced 159 balls in 221 minutes at the crease, hitting 13 fours and one six.

Bairstow played a fine support role on his return to the city where he drew unwanted attention for ‘head-butting’ Bancroft at a local bar on the first night of the tour.

The pair came together with England 131 for four just after lunch and their ability to survive for nearly two sessions will have inspired Root’s team as the Ashes holders seek to claw back from a 2-0 deficit in the five-match series.

They weathered some nervy moments. Bairstow, promoted to sixth in the order, all but played onto his stumps during all-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s third over when on 39.

Opener Mark Stoneman was out for 56, having twice been dropped after reaching his second half-century of the series and also struck on the helmet with a vicious short ball by Hazlewood.

He was first put down by Mitchell Marsh in the slips, then a diving Nathan Lyon was unable to complete a difficult low chance at point.

Root was out softly for 20, caught down the leg-side by Paine, and Stoneman followed in controversial circumstances.

Paine leapt high to take a fine one-handed catch after Starc appeared to graze Stoneman’s right glove but the caught behind appeal was turned down. Australia reviewed and third umpire Aleem Dar overruled Marais Erasmus on the strength of a noise picked up on the ‘snicko’ technology.

The decision clearly upset the England camp, with Root and fielding coach Paul Collingwood coming out of the dressing rooms to voice their concern as Stoneman trudged off.

England number three James Vince contributed 25 in a 63-run stand with Stoneman before being caught behind off Hazlewood before lunch.

Cook’s 150th Test started sourly, the 32-year-old opener lasting just 16 balls in the morning before being trapped lbw by Starc for seven. The left-hander did not review the decision, and the scorer of more than 11,000 Test runs has just 69 in the series at 13.80.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

A.N. Cook lbw b Starc 7
M.D. Stoneman c Paine b Starc 56
J.M. Vince c Paine b Hazlewood 25
J.E. Root c Paine b Cummins 20
D.J. Malan not out 110
J.M. Bairstow not out 75

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-2, W-1, NB-1) 12

TOTAL (for four wkts, 89 overs) 305

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-89, 3-115, 4-131.

TO BAT: Moeen Ali, C.R. Woakes, C. Overton, S.C.J. Broad, J.M. Anderson.

BOWLING (to-date): Starc 19-3-79-2; Hazlewood 20-7-62-1 (1nb); Cummins 21-6-60-1 (1w); Lyon 19-4-61-0; M.R. Marsh 7-1-25-0; Smith 3-1-8-0.

AUSTRALIA: C.T. Bancroft, D.A. Warner, U.T. Khawaja, S.P.D. Smith, S.E. Marsh, M.R. Marsh, T.D. Paine, M.A. Starc, P.J. Cummins, N.M. Lyon, J.R. Hazlewood.

UMPIRES: M. Erasmus (South Africa) and C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: Aleem Dar (Pakistan).

MATCH REFEREE: R.B. Richardson (West Indies).

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2017