Alex Carey douses Jofra Archer's fire with maiden Ashes hundred in Adelaide

A fighting century from Alex Carey and a surprising 82 from Usman Khawaja propped up the hosts' batting card, while Jofra Archer was the pick of England's bowlers with his 3/29 in front of over 56 000 fans.

Perhaps it wasn't Khawaja's runs that were a surprise, but rather that he was there in the first place. There's been much debate about the 39-year-old's inclusion in the line-up and when he was left out of the team list, many thought that perhaps his career was over. But Steve Smith withdrew just hours before the toss and the veteran was slotted straight back in.  

Captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat, but the usually belligerent pair of Travis Head and Jake Weatherald were split after just 33 runs in nine overs after the latter failed to deal with a sharp bouncer from Archer. Brydon Carse then got rid of Head the very next over thanks to a sensational one-handed grab from Zak Crawley.

Khawaja's rollercoaster day continued when he was dropped on five at slip by a disgruntled Harry Brook. He and Marnus Labuschage plodded along until a double strike from Archer directly after lunch. Labuschage paddled one straight to midwicket, then Cameron Green bizarrely made the same error two balls later and Australia were wobbling at 94/4.

The resurrected Khawaja and Alex Carey steadied the ship and put on 91 runs before the veteran skyed a slog sweep off Will Jacks' offbreak.

Carey came into his own batting with the tail. He collected runs at a fair clip on his way to his maiden Ashes Test century, striking nine boundaries along the way. All this while wickets fell around him, until he finally top-edged his sweep shot that was gobbled up by fellow gloveman Jamie Smith. He departed for 106.

That left Mitchell Starc (33 not out) and the stoic Nathan Lyon at the crease, of which the latter dropped anchor and blocked out 18 balls for his resolute naught before close of play.