The tourists reached 479-5 when bad light stopped play to lead England by 44 runs. Vice-captain Clarke was dismissed for 83 in a six-over period following a two-hour rain delay after tea when the teams played under floodlights for the first time in a home England test.

Marcus North, who added 143 for the fifth wicket with Clarke, was unbeaten on 54 with Brad Haddin on four. Clarke edged a Stuart Broad bouncer to wicketkeeper Matt Prior after attempting a hook shot.

Australia, resuming the day on 249-1 and seeking to retain the Ashes they won back in 2006-07, lost three wickets in the morning session as Simon Katich was out for 122, Ricky Ponting for 150 and Mike Hussey made three.

In the morning, Ponting raised the 200 stand with Katich by driving a short Monty Panesar delivery off the back foot to the extra cover boundary. It was one of his 14 fours, while he also hooked Andrew Flintoff for six off a top-edge.

The new ball altered the landscape as Anderson and Flintoff bowled with aggression, though Flintoff’s first ball of the day was a wide, taken by Prior in front of second slip.

Flintoff soon discovered his accuracy and a rare short ball struck Katich on his back when he turned away from a bouncer.

The breakthrough came in the fifth over of the new ball. Katich tried to flick a full length ball from Anderson off his legs, missed the shot and was lbw in front of middle stump.

Hussey edged Anderson to Prior for three after wafting at a pitched-up ball outside off stump.

Ponting’s dismissal then made the score 331-4. Ponting was out three balls after reaching his 150 when he tried to cut a spinning, short ball from Panesar and got a bottom edge on to his stumps.

It was the 13th time Ponting had passed 150 in his test career. He now only requires 65 runs to go past Allan Border’s tally of 11,174 runs to become the third-highest scoring batsman in test history and the most prolific Australian.

Clarke kept the pressure on, hitting Panesar for six and then a four in a later over that registered Australia’s 400. He reached his fifty with the first of two consecutive boundaries off Graeme Swann.

North, who warmed up for the test with an unbeaten 191 last week, brought up the 100 partnership with a single.

When England turned to its most potent and reliable bowler, Flintoff, he conceded as many as 10 runs off his first over back. A boundary with the last ball of that over gave Australia the lead, going past England’s 435.

Australia, at stumps at Sophia Gardens, were 249 for one in reply to England’s first innings 435, a deficit of 186.

Left-handed opener Katich, dropped early in his innings, was 104 not out and Ponting 100 not out, with their unbroken stand worth 189.

Katich, who has been at the crease for nearly five hours, became the first cricketer to score a Test hundred in Wales when he pulled Andrew Flintoff to post his eighth century at this level off 214 balls with eight fours.

Ponting, who by contrast was compiling his 38th Test hundred, followed him to the landmark with a single off the penultimate ball of the day, also from Flintoff, to bring up a century in 155 balls with eight fours.

During the course of his innings Ponting joined Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and former Australia captain Allan Border as the only batsmen to have made more than 11,000 Test runs.

A still largely docile pitch was as much of a stumbling block to England’s attack as it had been to their Australian counterparts and highlighted the lack of truly fearsome fast bowlers on either side.

The one exception was Flintoff, who produced a ferocious burst when introduced into the attack after lunch that saw him remove opener and Ashes debutant Phillip Hughes.

Flintoff immediately tested the 20-year-old left-hander from around the wicket in a bid to cramp the batsman for room.

The pace bowler then saw Katich, on 10, drive the ball low and hard back at him only for Flintoff, in his follow through, to drop the difficult caught and bowled chance.

Hughes, who favours the offside, had made 28 runs off 30 balls before lunch.

But it was a different story after the break with the 20-year-old only managing eight off 24 in the face of some fiery bowling from Flintoff, playing his first Test of the season following a knee injury.

Hughes was eventually out for 36 when he inside edged Flintoff, the hero of England’s 2005 Ashes series win, and wicket-keeper Matt Prior held a good, low diving catch.

But that was as good as it got for England in the session, even though Flintoff, who took one wicket for 15 runs in six overs, several times beat Katich on the outside edge.

Off-spinner Graeme Swann reeled off five consecutive maidens on a pitch taking turn but Australia’s second-wicket duo were rarely troubled by him or left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.

However, Swann was convinced he had Katich lbw for 56 with a ball that pitched in line and spun past the batsman’s defences.

But West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove was unmoved.

Ponting produced a chanceless display, driving and pulling in typically authoritative fashion as he scored his eighth Test century against England.

Swann had had more success earlier in the day with the bat.

Coming in at no. 9, he made 47 not out and, together with James Anderson (26), had shared in a valuable ninth-wicket stand of 68 in just 53 balls before lunch.

Swann struck rival off-spinner Nathan Hauritz for three fours in a row, the last a cheeky reverse sweep that took England past 400 after they’d resumed on 336 for seven with all of their specialist batsmen out.

But he was left just short of his second Test fifty when last man Panesar edged Hauritz to Ponting in the slips.

The news may come as a relief to Australia opener Phillip Hughes who was twice dismissed by short-pitched Harmison deliveries during the tourists’ drawn final warm-up match this week against the England Lions at Worcester.

The 30-year-old Harmison took six wickets in all for the Lions against Australia but the fast bowler, whose fiery new ball spell against Australia at Lord’s four years ago set the tone for England’s Ashes triumph, has been omitted after being dropped from the side during this year’s West Indies’ tour.

Instead fellow Durham quick Onions, who took 10 wickets in England’s 2-0 home series triumph over the West Indies, his debut Test campaign, has been added to the England team that drew this week’s practice match against Warwickshire while Lions captain Ian Bell was included as batting cover.

Injury-prone all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, the hero of England’s 2005 Ashes series win, returns to the squad following a knee injury and his recall means there is no place for Tim Bresnan, his stand-in earlier in the season.

“We were delighted with the way in which the team performed in the warm-up match at Edgbaston and it was very encouraging to see Andrew Flintoff bowl so well on his return to the side,” said national selector Geoff Miller after announcing the squad.

“We were keen to show consistency in selection and retain the nucleus of the side that performed so well against West Indies in the Test series earlier this summer,” the former England off-spinner added.

“Graham Onions has made an excellent start to his Test career and gives us a different option when we consider the make-up of our bowling attack and the type of conditions we will encounter.

“Ian Bell has performed well in county cricket this summer and he will act as cover batsman for this Test Match should any of our established batsmen be unavailable through injury.”

Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar is back in favour after missing the series against the West Indies while both Harmison and left-arm quick Ryan Sidebottom, in the wickets for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, have been told by Miller not to give up on their Ashes hopes.

“There is healthy competition for places in our starting line-up at present and the strong performance by the England Lions against Australia at Worcester demonstrated that we are starting to develop a larger squad of players who can compete effectively with international class players,” he said.

Squad:

Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior (wkt), Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Monty Panesar, Ian Bell, Graham Onions.