Peter Siddle was the main man for Australia with the ball, but England wrestled back some of the initiative with a good display of bowling of their own as the first day of the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge saw all of 14 wickets fall.
Siddle picked up an impressive five-for as Australia scythed through the England batting lineup, bowling them out for a measly 215.
England, though, took full advantage of Australia's fragile batting lineup, picking up four wickets of their own as Australia ended up on 75 for four at the end of the first day's play - 140 runs behind their opponents' first innings score.
Australia, who surprisingly selected young left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, were always going to be a dangerous entity with the ball, and with England choosing to bat first after Alastair Cook won the toss, the Aussie quicks were given the perfect opportunity to show their prowess.
The decision to bat first of course looked right on paper, with the pitch bone dry; but overcast conditions are always going to be dangerous for any batsman, especially with the quality fast bowlers in the Australian lineup.
James Pattinson (three for 69) and Mitchell Starc (two for 54) took a while to control the extravagant swing on offer in the opening overs, before the former sent England skipper Cook packing - the left-hander unnecessarily chasing at a relatively wide delivery and only managing to edge it to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
Joe Root, opening the innings with Cook, and Jonathan Trott built a decent little partnership of 51 and seemed to be taking England further away from troubled waters, before an absolute beauty from Siddle did the trick.
The Australian right-armer produced the perfect outswinging yorker from nowhere, as Root (30, 64b, 6x4) could only look back and see the damage the ball had done to the stumps.
Trott and Kevin Pietersen took England to 98 for two at lunch, before Pietersen's dismissal early in the second session started the wicket train.
The much-vaunted right-hander threw his bat at a wide delivery off Siddle but only managed to find Clarke in the slips.
Trott also gave his wicket away by looking for an expansive drive, with the ball catching the inside edge and rattling the stumps.
Ian Bell and Jonny Bairstow built a decent partnership of 54 - the highest of the innings - before Siddle again picked up the crucial wickets of Bell and Matt Prior to complete his five-wicket haul.
Stuart Broad typically attempted to throw his bat at every ball but England could only manage 215 before being all out as Australia took control of proceedings.
However, the Aussie batting was always going to be the problem in this series and the final session of play showed absolutely no signs that it would change as Steven Finn, with two wickets in two balls, and James Anderson ran through the top order.
Shane Watson and Ed Cowan threw their wickets away, chasing at wide deliveries off Finn, before an absolute peach from Anderson saw the back of skipper Clarke.
Chris Rogers, the veteran making only his second Test appearance, could not make use of a decent start, as Anderson trapped the left-hander in front of the stumps with Steven Smith and Phil Hughes seeing the rest of the day through.
Australia now need to knuckle down and get themselves as close to England's total as possible, if not past it, while England will be aiming to bowl their opponents quickly before hoping to bat better in the second innings.
