Strauss leads from front to start England’s Ashes campaign on winning note

SYDNEY - England started their Ashes campaign on a winning note with captain Andrew Strauss hitting an unbeaten century to inspire his team to a remarkable six-wicket win against Western Australia at the WACA Ground.

England had no hope of victory after Western Australia, holding a first-innings lead of 19, cruised to 1-130 in their second innings early on the final day.

But a stunning collapse saw the Warriors lose 7-55 to bge all out for 223..

Set 243 to win off 52 overs, England scored 4-243 with 26 balls to spare, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

England opener Strauss (120 not out off 141 balls) cracked 15 boundaries to lead the charge, while Kevin Pietersen smashed 35 off 22 balls to go with his first-innings knock of 58.

“In the first innings, I thought we got stuck in net mode a little bit and probably didn’t react as well to the conditions as we could have done. We were better the second time around and hopefully, we should get better with every innings we play,” Strauss said.

“It’s always good to get runs early in the tour but it doesn’t count when it comes to the first Test match. It was satisfying to get 100 and see the guys home but I’m sure there’s sterner tests ahead,” he added.

Australian Test No.6 Marcus North scored just 20 runs in his two innings, cutting Stuart Broad to gully for 19 in his first innings before being run-out for one on Sunday. (ANI)