1st Test: England 98/2 at lunch on Day 1

NOTTINGHAM (United Kingdom): Australia saw the back of England captain Alastair Cook and fellow opener Joe Root but the hosts were still 98 for two at lunch on the first day of the first Ashes Test at Nottingham's Trent Bridge ground on Wednesday.

Scorecard

Cook scored a mammoth 766 runs during England's 3-1 series win in the last Ashes campaign in Australia in 2010/11. But in his first Ashes Test as captain, Cook was caught behind off James Pattinson for just 13.

Root, in his first Ashes Test and first as an opener after winning six caps as a middle-order batsman, made 30 before he was bowled by Peter Siddle's outswinging yorker.

Cook won the toss and opted to bat in overcast conditions promising assistance for swing bowlers.

But the pitch was a good one and at the interval Jonathan Trott was 37 not out, with 32 of his runs coming in boundaries, and fellow South Africa-born batsman Kevin Pietersen 10 not out.

Pattinson, bowling on the Trent Bridge ground where older brother Darren -- a one Test wonder for England against South Africa at Headingley in 2008 -- played for Nottinghamshire, started the match with an offside wide to Cook.

Next ball Pattinson, the 23-year-old son of an English father, speared one down the legside.

There was a familiar sight for Australia when Cook got off the mark by clipping left-armer Mitchell Starc for a legside boundary.

Root also got off the mark with a boundary, pulling Pattinson down to fine leg for four as the floodlights were switched on to combat the gloom.

Meanwhile Pattinson produced excellent deliveries which beat both Cook and Root outside their respective off-stumps.

And it was with such a ball that Pattinson had Cook, pushing out without moving his feet, caught behind by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.

Trott was soon into his stride with a cover-driven four off Pattinson and he greeted the first ball from shock teenage debutant Ashton Agar by cover-driving a full toss from the 19-year-old left-arm spinner for four.

But a stand of 51 ended when Root, who faced 64 balls with four fours, was comprehensively bowled by Siddle with the seamer's first delivery after switching to the Radcliffe Road End.

Pietersen had made just one when a glance off Pattinson just evaded the diving Haddin's outstretched left glove.

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Shweta Pandey

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