Australian captain Steve Smith scored an unbeaten 64 to guide his side to 165-4 at the close of play on day two.
England had earlier reduced them to 76-4 as Joe Root cleverly maneuvered his fields to bring his bowlers into the game on a slow pitch.
But with one of the world's best batsmen at the crease, Root knew he had his work cut out unless he could find a way to remove his opposite number.
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| Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh held together the Australian first innings on day two of the Ashes. |
Despite a slow start to the partnership, him and the recalled Shaun Marsh put on an unbroken 89 for the fifth wicket, leaving the pair key to the hopes of both sides outcomes in the test.
The tourists had earlier been bowled out for 302, losing 6-56 after Dawid Malan had become the third player making his Ashes debut to score a half century in the match.
Moeen Ali had supported well eventually being dismissed for 38 entertaining runs, but the loss of the two batsmen began a collapse that saw Nathan Lyon rewarded for his excellent bowling on the first day, finishing with 2-78 from his 36 overs.
Pat Cummins (3-85) and Mitchell Starc (3-77) cleaned up as well to leave England 30-40 runs short of what they would have hoped for after Malan and Ali had put on 83.
The ability for the pair to score as freely as they did was put well into context as the Australians struggled to score at their usual rate, getting bogged down despite early boundaries from David Warner (23)
Stuart Broad opened the wicket taking with Cameron Bancroft (5) caught behind, Moeen Ali was introduced early and paid dividends trapping Usman Khawaja lbw for 11.
Jake Ball lured Warner into playing a false pull shot straight to midwicket, then after the tea break Peter Handscomb (14) was given lbw on review from a hooping inswinger from Jimmy Anderson leaving the hosts struggling at 76-4.
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