James Anderson and Chris Tremlett destroyed Australia's batting line-up for 98 in less than two sessions on Boxing Day, as the Australians were dismissed for their lowest Ashes total in a home Test in 74 years. The frailties in the batting order were exposed as every man but the not-out Ben Hilfenhaus was caught behind the wicket, unable to handle a little bit of movement off the pitch.

Anderson and Tremlett finished with four wickets each, and Tim Bresnan collected the remaining two, more than justifying Andrew Strauss's decision to send Australia in on a pitch with a green tinge and some moisture. The bowlers hit the right lines and found some nibble off the seam, but several of the Australians would be disappointed to have played with hard hands at deliveries they could have left.

They lost four wickets before the first break and even a long lunch couldn't help them regroup, as the rest of the order collapsed after the resumption. In one particularly ugly patch for the home side they lost 3 for 0, as Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson all edged behind or to slip, and a few late runs from the tailenders Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle could not get the side to triple-figures.

When Matt Prior pouched the final catch, his sixth of the innings, the batsman Ben Hilfenhaus raced off the field immediately, knowing that he and his bowling colleagues have a mammoth task ahead of them to save the game. Five men reached double figures in the innings but Michael Clarke's 20 was the best score, and there was no repeat of Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin saving the day as they have in previous matches this series.

After lunch, Steven Smith was the first to depart when he prodded hard away from his body and got a thick edge behind off Anderson for 6. He was followed by Clarke, with a thin edge to Prior off Anderson when he wafted outside off, before Haddin edged to slip off Bresnan and Johnson was caught behind off Anderson.

Tremlett picked up the two remaining wickets, Siddle (10) and Hilfenhaus edging behind to Prior. It had all finished rather the same way it began, with Tremlett and Anderson causing problems by teasing outside off stump and keeping the batsmen tied down.

Shane Watson was dropped twice on 0; Anderson found the edge from the fifth ball of the match and saw Paul Collingwood spill the chance at third slip, and his next over Anderson watched on as Kevin Pietersen at gully couldn't cling on to a hard cut that flew over his head. Watson's luck ran out when he couldn't get out of the way of an excellent bouncer from Tremlett, and the ball lobbed off the gloves to Pietersen at gully.

The out-of-form Phillip Hughes cut the first runs of the match with a boundary through point, but fell for 16 when his attempted cover-drive was edged to gully to give Bresnan a wicket in his second over. That was followed by Ponting (10) edging a cracking ball from Tremlett to second slip where it was snapped up by Graeme Swann, who was required to bowl only two overs.

Tremlett got the ball to rise sharply and nip away significantly off the seam, and Ponting was doing well to even get bat on such a good ball. There was more bounce in the surface than the batsmen might have expected from the usually slow and low drop-in pitches, which helped Michael Hussey survive an lbw review when Tremlett's delivery was shown to be going over the top.

But Hussey didn't survive in the last over before lunch, when he edged behind off Anderson for 8. It was a fine bowling and fielding effort from England, who will retain the Ashes if they win the match, and provided their batsmen don't fall into the same traps that Australia's did, that is looming as the most likely outcome over the next few days.