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England's belated decision to play bold cricket breathed new life into the Ashes series after Monty Panesar spun the third Test into the tourists' advantage at Perth's WACA Ground.
Panesar made a mockery of England's conservative selections this series when, given the chance to twiddle his spinning finger instead of his thumbs, took 5-92 on Ashes debut to help bowl Australia out for 244.
Aided by the reinvigorated fast bowler Steve Harmison, Panesar gave life to the tourists' dreams of fighting back from 2-0 to keep alive their chances of retaining cricket's most prized trophy.
However Australia's bowlers also sprang to life to orchestrate a home side fightback on easily the most absorbing day of the series.
England was 51/2 at stumps.
England's batsmen can expect the wicket to flatten and slow over what should be four more cracking days, but on the hostility Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee showed tonight, the tourists will have to bat superbly to forge out a first innings lead of any note.
McGrath halted a quickfire England start with the removal of Alastair Cook (15), and then Lee produced a peach to have Ian Bell caught behind for a second-ball duck, although television replays showed the speedster overstepped.
With Andrew Strauss (24 not out) due for a big score, England will be desperate to build a lead big enough to avoid a repeat of the last day of the second Test in Adelaide, when the tourists' batsmen were mesmerised by Australia's bowlers and succumbed to the pressure.
Panesar at least brought much-needed positivity to England's cause with a display of class, occasion and resilience after he got the nod over Ashley Giles, after two Tests on the sidelines.
Panesar bowled a dumbfounded Justin Langer - leaving the ball with an angled bat - with his seventh ball and then won the battle against Andrew Symonds' attempts to hit him out of the attack, when he had the allrounder (26) caught behind cutting at a wide ball.
Panesar became the first bowler since England's Alan Mullally eight years ago to take five wickets on his Ashes debut, and only the third left-arm finger spinner to claim a big haul at the WACA Ground, after India's Bishan Bedi, who took 11 wickets in 1977-78, and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori, who claimed 6-87 five years ago.
England's other inspiration came from Harmison, who retained his place after a return of 1-288 in the first two Tests and bounced back with 4-48.
Harmison took the two major scalps of the day, first when he had Australian captain Ricky Ponting LBW for two and then in the second session, when he cut short Michael Clarke's stylish innings of 37 when he latched on to a return catch from Clarke's flat-batted pull shot.
With Clarke dismissed on the verge of something special and Symonds out to too adventurous a shot, the responsibility of saving Australia's innings again fell to Mike Hussey, who seamlessly took over No.4 after Damien Martyn's retirement and made 74 not out.
England's new-found spirit was reflected in the way Harmison and Panesar wildly celebrated their scalps after difficult tours, and the way their teammates mobbed them in delight.
However after two late wickets, England was spared another big blow when Paul Collingwood (10 not out) was dropped by Shane Warne at slip, moving to his left, in Stuart Clark's first over.
The great day's cricket was observed by a crowd of 24,224 - the record for a Test day at the WACA Ground - which was well-behaved, and had only seven fans ejected by tea.
