England won’t get carried away, says James Anderson

James Anderson insists England will not get carried away despite finishing an incredible first day of the Boxing Day Ashes Test 59 runs ahead at the MCG.

Australia were bowled out for 98, the home side’s lowest ever Ashes score in Melbourne, as Anderson took four for 44 and Chris Tremlett four for 26. England are now one good day of batting away from retaining the Ashes with a Test match to spare.

But Anderson insists the visitors cannot look too far ahead despite such an impressive start. “It is too soon,” said Anderson. “We have got a lot of hard work to do with the bat in the next day and hopefully more than a day.

“By the way of how flat the pitch has got this afternoon we are going to have to do quite well to bowl them out. It’s going to be four days of really hard work.”

Anderson hailed captain Andrew Strauss’s decision to bat first and added that it was one of his best ever England displays. “I’ve probably not [had a better day] off the top of my head,” he said. “To bowl Australia out for under 100 and then be 150 for none at the end of play is unheard of really. Looking back it was a great toss to win.”

He added: “It couldn’t have gone much better for us. It was a great decision to bowl first, I thought we bowled fantastic all day.”

Meanwhile, Australia coach Tim Nielsen admits to being at a loss to explain his side’s woeful batting display. “Coming off the back of Perth where we thought we played well and got back into the contest to have such a poor day consistently over the full six hours is disappointing,” said Nielsen.

“It’s a little bit hard to [explain] – it was just one of those things of the game. The momentum has certainly shifted and we will have to work hard tomorrow to get back into the contest.”