Ashes: Australia's Mitchell Starc wants to see how England 'react' on quick pitch

Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc says he "can't wait" to bowl at England on a quicker pitch after their lower order struggled on day two of the first Ashes Test.

On a slow Brisbane surface, England slipped from 246-4 to 302 all out, with four batsmen falling to short balls.

"It's going to be great to take them on and see how they react," said Starc.

"I can't wait to bowl on a fast wicket against these guys if that's the way they're going to play on a slow one."

Australia reached 165-4 - trailing by 137 - by the close to leave the Test finely poised.

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After Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 83, Malan hooked Starc to deep square leg to fall for 56 to begin England's slide.

With Jonny Bairstow, Ball and Stuart Broad also perishing to short deliveries, it evoked memories of England's struggles against Mitchell Johnson in their 5-0 defeat four years ago.

Starc claimed two of the six England wickets to fall to finish with 3-77, while fellow fast bowler Pat Cummins returned figures of 3-85 and off-spinner Nathan Lyon 2-78.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special: "The one concern for England will be that they lost six wickets cheaply on this surface, which has no real pace in it."

Before the first Test, Lyon said England's batsmen were "scared" of Johnson in 2013-14 and that Australia hoped to use those memories to their advantage - and he said on Friday England's performance was a "good sign" for the hosts.

Asked if he enjoyed seeing the way the tourists batted, Lyon said: "Yeah, especially on a slow wicket. We take a lot of confidence out of that.

"We can stick to our plans and not go away from that. The fast bowlers are proud and pretty excited to hopefully come across some fast decks over the summer."

Dawid Malan made 56 in three hours before falling on the hook to Mitchell Starc

England fast bowler Jake Ball said: "Our batters have done a lot of work on the short ball and are comfortable playing pull or hook shots.

"It's down to them if they want to play it or not."

After England were bowled out, Australia were reduced to 76-4, only for captain Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh to share an unbroken stand of 89.

"Hopefully we can do to Australia what they did to us," said Ball, who removed opener David Warner on his Ashes debut.

"The wicket is slow and can be hard for batsmen to get in on. Maybe they aren't used to that. If we can get one wicket, we can put pressure on those coming in."

Lyon, who trapped Moeen Ali lbw and bowled Chris Woakes, agreed with Ball that the game is in the balance.

"Hopefully we can build on that partnership between Smith and Marsh," he said.

"We'll bat as long as we can and hopefully get past their score. We all need to fight hard with the stick and put them under pressure in their second innings."

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