Joe Root applauds Chris Woakes as he bowls full and straight to David Warner. He bowls a second maiden in a row and continues to keep Warner quiet. Will he start to get frustrated at any point?

Ed Smith
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

How that didn't hit the stumps, I'll never know.

How has this missed?! A good ball from Tom Curran keeps low, hits the toe of Cameron Bancroft's bat, bounces just in front of the stumps and then up and over. Hands on heads from the English fielders.

More excellent bowling from young Curran. Full and aimed at the stumps. He strides purposefully back to his mark with his hair slicked back and sweatband on one wrist. He's looking every bit a Test cricketer.

The lights are on at the MCG but it doesn't seem necessary. The sun is out now after the gloom earlier.

Chris Woakes continues and once again an England fielder, this time Joe Root, throws the ball at the stumps unnecessarily, more in an attempt to rough the ball up than run the batsman out.

A maiden from Woakes.

It has been a quiet start from England. That appeal in the last over has been the only one so far. England are really working hard on this ball.

There's a little squiggle on Snicko but that is not because of an edge. It came before the ball passed the bat. There is nothing on Hot Spot either. England lose their review.

Alison Mitchell
BBC Test Match Special

It wasn't the most convincing of appeals...

Image source, Reuters

This must definitely be Joe Root realising the ball isn't swinging and he wants to save Anderson and Broad for later in the innings.

Tom Curran is into the attack and is appealing in his first over - if unconvincingly - for a catch behind.

The umpire shakes his head but Joe Root calls for a review. Has Bancroft nicked this?

Image source, PA

Glenn McGrath
Ex-Australia pace bowler on BBC Test Match Special

I was chatting to Mike Hussey earlier - he'd been out to look at the pitch and said he reckoned it hadn't changed much and was still like a day-two pitch. Day two is usually the best day to bat.

An early change for England. Stuart Broad bowled just two overs and has been removed from the attack. Is he being saved for the reverse-swinging ball?

Chris Woakes is the bowler and even this early he has just one slip and a gully in place to Warner and deep fielders on both sides of the wicket. It's mostly back-of-a-length stuff from Woakes and the Aussies comfortably add two more.

Jimmy Anderson finds Warner's edge but the ball runs through the slip and down to third man for four. A moral victory for the bowler but a quick start for the Aussies.

Twice more Warner takes a couple in the over and there doesn't seem to be much more of that first-over swing. England are already trying to scuff the ball up by bouncing their throws from the deep off the pitch. Reverse swing may well be England's biggest friend here.

That's an excellent point, Luke. My BBC colleague Mike Taylor from the West Midlands has got in touch to answer my earlier question about innings ending on the first ball of the day. He recalls the 2000 Lord's Test between England and West Indies, when all four innings were partly played on the same day. Excellent memory.

Cameron Bancroft is now on the attack! He was very scratchy in the first innings but hits Broad for back-to-back boundaries in the fourth over. The first is a pull through the leg side that almost takes short leg's head off and the second is a textbook drive down the ground. Nice.

Cheer up people! I'd definitely rather be in England's position than Australia's. More tight bowling from Anderson. He seems to be aiming for the stumps rather than looking for an outside edge. Just a single from the over, which is David Warner's first run.

Ooooooo. Nervy from Cameron Bancroft. He fishes big time at Stuart Broad's first delivery. Plenty of gasps from behind the wicket and Jonny Bairstow chirps away in his west Yorkshire accent.

There's not much bounce out there. The England wicketkeeper takes Broad's final ball on the second bounce. England won't mind that in the position they are in.

Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport in Melbourne

A very, very empty MCG this morning. Days like this often rely on walk-up spectators, but Aussie aren't great at turning up when their team is under the pump. The cheapest tickets are A$30 for adults and A$10 for children (about £17/£5).

Loud applause from the stands can be heard as the England fans finish their morning rendition of Jerusalem.

You wouldn't expect any less but James Anderson is on the money right away. He bowls four dot balls before Bancroft gets a tickle on one to get off the mark and that brings first-innings centurion David Warner onto strike.

That's good from Anderson. A ball of good length that keeps a little low. Warner has to drop his bat to keep it out.

Here we go then. Australia's openers head out trailing by 164 runs on the first innings.

Jimmy Anderson is the man with the new ball of course and there is a nice bit of swing with his first ball to Cameron Bancroft.

Image source, PA

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

Alastair Cook will be delighted because he is a stats man. He is the biggest stats man I know. He knows his average to the nth degree.