Shane Warne took four wickets and had a running duel with Kevin Pietersen on Sunday as England spiraled toward a heavy defeat in the series-opening Ashes Test.
The Ashes First Test, Brisbane, Day four (close): Australia 602-9 dec & 202-1 dec v England 157 & 293-5
Ricky Ponting aimed to inflict maximum psychological damage on England after Glenn McGrath took six wickets to give Australia a 445-run lead in the first Ashes test.
The Ashes First Test, Brisbane, Day three (close): Australia 602-9 dec & 181-1 v England 157
The opening day of England's Ashes defence started badly and got worse for the tourists, with Ricky Ponting's 32nd test hundred lifting Australia to 346 for three by stumps.
The Ashes First Test, Brisbane, Day One (close): Australia 346-3 v England
The first 2006-2007 Ashes Test between England and Australia gets underway at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday and both teams are in the process of completing their preparations.
England's tour of Australia got off to a shaky start after they crashed to be all out for 181 chasing the Prime Minister's XI total of 5 for 347 in their one-dayer at Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Desperate supporters will have a chance to get their hands on treasured Ashes tickets from Wednesday when more than 26,000 tickets for the five tests go on general sale, Cricket Australia said on Monday.
The Ashes is a Test cricket contest played between England and Australia.
It is one of cricket's fiercest and most celebrated rivalries and the oldest in international cricket dating back to 1882.
It is currently played at approximately two yearly intervals, alternately in England and Australia.
The Ashes are "held" by the country which last won a series and to "regain" them the other country must win more Test matches in a series than the country that "holds" them.
If a series is "drawn" then the country holding the Ashes retains them.
The last Ashes series was played in England in 2005 when England regained The Ashes after a gap of 16 years by winning the series 2-1.
The next Ashes series will be in Australia in 2006-07 and the next series in England will be in 2009.
The series is named after a satirical obituary published in The Sporting Times in 1882 following the match at The Oval, in which Australia beat England in England for the first time.
The obituary stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.
The English media dubbed the next English tour, to Australia (1882-83) as the quest to regain The Ashes.
A small terracotta urn was presented to the England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women at some point during the 1882-83 tour.
The contents of the urn are reputed to be the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, possibly a bail, ball or stump.
The urn is not used as a trophy for the Ashes series, and whichever side "holds" the Ashes, the urn remains in the MCC Museum at Lord's because of its age and frailty.
Since the 1998-99 Ashes series, a Waterford crystal trophy has been presented to the winners.
The Australian cricket team is one of the leading international teams in world cricket. Australia was one of the first two Test nations (with England) and have an outstanding recent Test record and in the one dayers were World Champs in 1987, 1999 and 2003. They are also the leaders in the current ICC Test Nations table.
Dates in history of Australian cricket
November, 1868: 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England 15
March 1877: Test debut
28 December 1934: Women's Test team debut
5 January 1971: ODI Debut
23 June 1973: Women's ODI team debut
8 November 1987: Won 4th edition of Cricket World Cup by defeating England in the final match at Eden Gardens, Calcutta.
20 June 1999: Steve Waugh lifts the World Cup
23 March 2003: Ricky Ponting lifts the World Cup
England Cricket History
England
The England cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales, operating under the auspices of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
The sport of cricket evolved in England, and England is a founding Test cricket, One-day International and Twenty20 nation
Dates in history of England cricket 15
March 1877: Test debut 5
January 1971: ODI Debut
25 September 2004: England reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy
12 September 2005: England regained The Ashes
