England 4-180 (Alastair Cook 72, Michale Carberry 43, Ryan Harris 1-26) trails Australia 385 (Steven Smith 111, David Warner 60, Brad Haddin 55, Stuart Broad 3-100) by 205 runs with six wickets in hand.

The English skipper along with Michael Carberry provided a reasonable opening stand vs. Australia whereas their middle order was unable to utilize strong base.

The Kangaroos amassed 385 runs in the first innings and the visitors reached 180 for the loss of four wickets in 68 overs.

The second day’s play finished on Saturday, December 14, 2013, at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth.

Earlier, the Aussies went into bat at 6-326 after 87 overs whereas Steven Smith and Mitchell Johnson were at the crease with 103 and 39 runs. Johnson became the first victim without adding any run and Smith followed him at 338 at his personal score of 111. Peter Siddle scored 21 while the entire home side was bowled for 385 in 103.3 overs.

Stuart Broad was the highest wicket taker with three, James Anderson and Graeme Swann held two each whereas Tim Bresnan and Ben Stokes claimed one wicket each.

Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry opened the innings for the tourists confidently by scoring 54 runs in 15 overs with 8 fours. The latter hit the only six of the innings two overs later and the duo enhanced the score to 85 when he was clean bowled for 43. Joe Root was gone for just four runs and was replaced by Kevin Pietersen whereas Cook kept on consolidating and reached his 34^th Test fifty.

The association was dismantled at 136 when Alastair Cook lost his wicket for 72 and his partner left the scene 10 runs later for 19. Ian Bell and Ben Stokes saw off the last few overs of the day without any further loss and secured their ends for 14, 19 and took their team to 4-180.

Ryan Harris, Shane Watson, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon shared one wicket each.

The game is evenly poised at the moment and England will anticipate a better performance from rest of their batsmen in the first innings.