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Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood restored England's fortunes after a fraught opening session on the first day of the first Ashes test against Australia on Wednesday.

England were 194 for three at tea after losing their top three batsmen before lunch.

Pietersen settled down after a skittish start, in which he twice threatened to run himself out, to reach 52 with three fours while Collingwood was on 50 with four boundaries.

Australia captain Ricky Ponting left inviting gaps in the field against off-spinner Nathan Hauritz but Pietersen resisted the temptation to go for the big shot and the pair gathered their runs with a steady stream of singles.

Nineteen overs of spin from Hauritz and Michael Clarke yielded 61 runs with no wicket and honours were even after two sessions.

England captain Andrew Strauss showed what he thought of the pitch by including both spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar in the final XI and electing to bat.

After three quiet opening overs from Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle was introduced into the attack at the Cathedral End and began immediately to extract life and lift.

Alastair Cook (10) was acrobatically caught at gully by Michael Hussey off Ben Hilfenhaus and Johnson returned to dismiss Strauss (30) caught off his glove by a ball which rose viciously at his throat.

Siddle greeted Ravi Bopara with a ball that rattled his helmet grill and a follow-up delivery which the batsman fended dangerously close to short-leg.

Bopara unfurled some sumptuous drives among a number of mis-hits to reach 35 when Johnson bowled a clever slower ball which the batsman pushed tamely to Phillip Hughes in the covers.