England captain Michael Vaughan stroked 166 Thursday, reviving his masterful form of the last Ashes series in three sessions when Australia's only real joy was Shane Warne's 600th test wicket.
Vaughan won the toss, decided to bat and then survived dropped catches on 41 and 141 in his fourth test hundred against Australia and his 15th overall.
England was 341 for five at stumps on day one of the pivotal third test.
Brett Lee took two late wickets, including night watchman Matthew Hoggard (4) on the last ball of the day, and finished with 3-58.
Ian Bell remained unbeaten on 59, facing 146 balls for his confidence-boosting maiden Ashes half century.
Warne, who started this test with a world-record 599 wickets, shouldered the bowling attack in an unchanged 27-over stint that netted 1-75.
He reached the 600 milestone in his fifth over when Marcus Trescothick (63) was undone by a ball that hit his thigh, then his bat and deflected to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.
After persevering with Warne and the wearing ball hoping to force another breakthrough, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting took the new ball after 86 overs and turned to his pacemen.
Lee struck with the second ball of the next over to start a spell of 2-4 in 11 balls.
Lee, who spent two nights in hospital for treatment on knee infection before rejoining the squad on Wednesday, had Kevin Pietersen (21) caught by substitute fielder Brad Hodge on the midwicket boundary and then bowled Hoggard.
He had taken the only wicket of the first session, bowling Andrew Strauss (6) after hitting the England opener in the neck with a steeply rising ball in his previous over.
England was 26 for one at Strauss' dismissal, lucky not to be two wickets down after Trescothick had a reprieve on 13 when Gilchrist put down a regulation chance off Glenn McGrath.
It was the first of four costly dropped chances for Australia.
Vaughan was under pressure. Coming into the test, he had scored only 32 runs in four innings and he had been bowled three times.
He made the perfect response to critics of his technique, carefully playing Warne's legspin and then attacking the pacemen at the other end in the alternate overs to notch his highest score as England captain.
Vaughan shared a 137-run, second-wicket stand with vice-captain Trescothick and a 127-run, third-wicket partnership with Bell before lofting a full toss from part-time spinner Simon Katich directly to McGrath at long-on.
He made the most of his chances. The 30-year-old righthander had not added to his lunchtime score of 41 when he flashed outside off stump at McGrath, and Gilchrist, leaping in front of first slip, deflected the one-handed chance down to the rope for four.
Next delivery, Vaughan had his stumps rattled by McGrath but umpire Steve Bucknor ruled it a no-ball.
On 141, Vaughan slashed at a Warne ball outside off stump and smacked a sharp chance to first slip, where Matt Hayden couldn't handle the catch.
The England captain was the leading scorer in the 2003 Ashes series in Australia, scoring 633 runs at an average of 66 and notching three hundreds.
England lost that series 4-1 but is in a stronger position at home after the series-leveling two-run win in the second test at Edgbaston last Sunday.
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