Cricket: Buchanan cannot explain no-balls

NOTTINGHAM, England - Australian coach John Buchanan cannot explain his side's woeful no-ball record on this Ashes cricket tour as overstepping again plagued day one of the fourth test against England at Trent Bridge.

England finished the rain-shortened day on 229 for four on the back of half-centuries to Marcus Trescothick (65) and Michael Vaughan (58), but Australia's pacemen showed their generosity by coughing up 22 no-balls.

Brett Lee bowled Trescothick with one no-ball, which took to three the number of times this series where overstepping has denied Australia a wicket.

Buchanan said he would leave it to the bowlers to sort out their problems, but admitted they were yet to work out why they were constantly overstepping.

"There's no explanation for that," he said.

"We set ourselves a target of not bowling one and obviously we've just managed to miss that, so it gives us some room for improvement which is always a nice place to be."

Australia has maintained a "zero tolerance" approach to no-balls, but Buchanan said the problem was frustrating one.

"That's exactly what I said, zero tolerance so it's a headache for all of us," he said.

Pacemen dominated today's bowling as Shane Warne bowled only six overs, but Buchanan insisted there was nothing wrong with the legspinner's back.

Warne experienced back tightness in the lead-up to the match, but Buchanan said Warne only bowled as many overs as was required.

"The fast bowlers showed there was enough movement in the air and enough movement in the wicket to encourage them and to keep them going," he said.

"There wasn't a lot of opportunity for the fast bowlers to bowl, so from (Warne's) point of view as far as I've seen and talked with Shane, he's fine and ready to go.

"I think he'll be ready either for the second part of this innings or certainly the second innings of England's."

England will depend on Kevin Pietersen (33 not out) and Andrew Flintoff (eight not out) to tomorrow capitalise on the side's good start.

"I think we've just got our noses in front, but it was unfortunate losing Mike very close to the end of the day," Trescothick said.

"But tomorrow is obviously very important for us now.

"We need to play well again tomorrow and give ourselves a real good chance in the game."

Australia debutant fast bowler Shaun Tait took two for 62 and claimed his first wicket when he swung a beauty through Trescothick's defences.

Rain could also be a factor tomorrow, as bad weather is forecast.

- AAP