New South Wales 325-5 v England: England struggling after pair of Jaques tons

England made an encouraging finish to the first day of their tour match with New South Wales after Phil Jaques had tormented them with the bat for the second time in three days.

The left-handed opener hit 112 off 110 balls for a Prime Minister's XI on Friday as England opened their Ashes tour with a humbling 166-run defeat in Canberra.

The 27-year-old enhanced his case for selection in Australia's Ashes side by scoring 107, putting on a second-wicket stand of 155 with the captain, Simon Katich, who hit 68. That left the Blues on 193 for 2, but England fought back to reduce them to 325 for 5 at stumps with the spinner Ashley Giles claiming 2 for 46.

Although Andrew Flintoff, with 0 for 52, failed to take a wicket, the England captain continued his recovery from injury with a solid 15 overs, while James Anderson (1 for 45) and Monty Panesar (1 for 54) improved as the day wore on. Matthew Hoggard (0 for 51) and Steve Harmison (1 for 76) returned to the England side after being left out of the one-day defeat on Friday and opened the bowling with varied success.

While Hoggard conceded just 12 runs from his opening five overs, Harmison gave up 31, although the Durham paceman claimed the first wicket in the 10th over, when Ed Cowan, on 26, edged on to his stumps.

Flintoff replaced Harmison, opening with an impressive five-over spell that included two maidens and just 12 runs, although the captain should also have had a wicket. From Flintoff's first ball around the wicket to Katich, Marcus Trescothick dropped a straightforward catch at first slip with Katich on 14.

Hoggard returned for Flintoff but was greeted with successive fours from Jaques which brought up his half-century and New South Wales' 100. The second boundary came from a glorious drive through the covers. Katich lofted James Anderson for six down the leg side the following over, and, after lunch, Katich picked up whence he had left off, hitting successive balls off Harmison back past the bowler for four.

In Giles' first over, Jaques glanced one down the leg-side for three runs to bring up his century. But his innings ended shortly after when he lofted the spinner to Harmison at long-off.

Michael Clarke claimed his first boundary by lashing a wide delivery from Flintoff through the covers, but Anderson returned strongly from an expensive opening spell. Giles backed him up at the other end and the pressure told with the third wicket just before tea as Katich lofted the ball towards the deep midwicket boundary, where Kevin Pietersen took a superb catch on the run.

Shortly after the interval, Trescothick made amends for his earlier error by catching Aaron O'Brien for six at first slip in a wicket maiden from Anderson. After conceding 39 runs in his first seven overs, Anderson gave up just six from his next eight, as well as claiming the wicket of O'Brien.

Clarke and Daniel Smith put on 65 for the fifth wicket before Monty Panesar was rewarded for some disciplined bowling with the wicket of Clarke, who hit 50, Trescothick taking a second catch at first slip.

Smith and Moises Henriques then saw out the session and will resume on 36 and 25, respectively.

Scoreboard from the SCG

New South Wales won toss; first day of three

New South Wales - First innings

P A Jaques c Harmison b Giles 107

E J M Cowan b Harmison 26

*S M Katich c Pietersen b Giles 68

M J Clarke c Trescothick b Panesar 50

A W O'Brien c Trescothick b Anderson 6

ÝD Smith not out 36

M C Henriques not out 25

Extras (lb1 w2 nb4) 7

Total 5 wkts (90 overs) 325

Fall: 1-38, 2-193, 3-216, 4-224, 5-289.

To bat: N W Bracken, B Casson, S R Clark, N M Hauritz, G D McGrath, S C G MacGill.

Bowling: Hoggard 12-2-51-0; Harmison 15-1-76-1; Anderson 15-3-45-1; Flintoff 15-4-52-0; Panesar 18-2-54-1; Giles 15-3-46-2.

England: J M Anderson, I R Bell, P D Collingwood, A N Cook, *A Flintoff, A F Giles, S J Harmison, M J Hoggard, ÝG O Jones, K P Pietersen, A J Strauss, M E Trescothick, S I Mahmood, M S Panesar.

Umpires: R D Goodger and D L Orchard.