England started the day with the news that former captain and talisman Andrew Flintoff was going to retire from Test cricket after the Ashes, Monty Panesar had been dropped in favour of Graham Onions and Steve Harmison had been left out of the squad. England won the toss and chose to bat first. They started exceptionally well with Strauss and Cook opening and going in for lunch 126/0. There was bad luck for the Australians after the interval when Strauss hit a ball back towards bowler Nathan Hauritz who, in trying to take the catch, dislocated his finger. England's pre-lunch form continued into the afternoon, until, with the score 196/0, Cook was dismissed LBW by Johnson just short of his century on 95. England soon lost Bopara for 18 and, from 222/2, England started to collapse: the next four middle order batsmen fell for just 74 with Australia's bowlers looking far better than they had done earlier in the day. Strauss continued past 150 to reach 161 with Broad on 7 going into day 2 and England on a possible shaky 364/6.