BRISBANE: Australia struck England an early Ashes blow on day one of the first Test in Brisbane with a brilliant bowling effort.

Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat, but his plans for England were derailed early in the session.

Australian tearaway quick Mitchell Starc struck first, hitting the base of Rory Burns' leg stump as he hobbled across the pitch. It was only the second time in Ashes history that a wicket fell on the first ball of a series, with Stan Worthington caught by Bert Oldfield off the bowling of Ernest McCormick in 1936.

At the other end, Australia's Josh Hazlewood kept the pressure on, dismissing Dawid Malan and Joe Root to leave the tourists reeling at 11/3.

Ben Stokes and Haseeb Hameed dug in until the first drinks break, but captain Pat Cummins dismissed Stokes with a beauty, finding the left-shoulder hander's bat after refreshments.

Hameed was joined by Ollie Pope, and the pair dug in despite the efforts of the deployed Nathan Lyon, sat on 399 Test wickets.

Captain Cummins found the edge again just after lunch, and Steve Smith grabbed a superb catch, undoing Hameed's work.

It brought out Jos Buttler, who seemed to channel his white-ball form from the T20 World Cup, responding with a variety of front and back foot strokes.

Buttler and Pope raced to a fifty-run stand, but any hopes of capitalizing on their start were dashed by a ball after they reached the mark.

Buttler (39) edged a fine Starc delivery to Alex Carey, and Cameron Green soon followed with his first Test wicket, with Pope (35) top-edging to Josh Hazlewood in the deep.

England was unable to mount a late-inning comeback, collapsing to 147 all out, with Pat Cummins leading from the front with 5/38.

As the teams made their way off for the tea break taken at the end of the innings, rain fell across the ground, causing a further break in play.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency