Cricket: England win toss, bowl in Perth

England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and put Australia into bat on a green-top pitch in the third Ashes cricket test at the Waca ground in Perth today.England, who lead the five-match series 1-0, recalled Chris Tremlett for his first test in three years to replace injured fast bowler Stuart Broad.

Tremlett, 29, a tall and strongly built seam bowler who last played a test against India at The Oval in 2007, is the only change to the England line-up who won the second test in Adelaide by an innings and 71 runs.

England have won only once in 11 attempts on the pacey Waca surface.

Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson returns to the Australian side to spearhead a four-pronged seam and swing attack as the home side desperately look to level the series and keep the series alive.

Australia made four changes to the side who lost the second test in Adelaide.  They replaced the injured opener Simon Katich with Phil Hughes, brought in batsman Steve Smith for an out-of-form Marcus North, and dropped fast bowler Doug Bollinger and left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty in favour of Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus.

Both Johnson and Hilfenhaus were dropped for Adelaide.

Australia left out left-arm spinner Michael Beer from their 12.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle.

England: Andrew Strauss (captain), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matthew Prior, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Steve Finn, James Anderson.

Umpires: Marais Erasmus, South Africa, and Billy Doctrove, West Indies.  TV umpire: Aleem Dar, Pakistan. Match Referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.

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