Australia made it very hard - Key

Robert Key admitted that England's position was so difficult during England's first innings at the WACA that he had no idea how he was going to score runs. Key top-scored with 47 as pacemen Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie reduced England to 185 all out.

"There was a stage out there when you just wondered where your next run was coming from," Key said. "It was not a question of always playing at the ball, there were plenty of balls to leave, but you have to make a decision whether you are going to go after them.

"It is not an easy thing to do, whether to try to pull McGrath's length, and I decided to try to play the waiting game and fortunately against Warne and I managed to get a few and so it paid off a little bit - 47 runs!" he told Sky Sports.

"I prefer those sort of wickets because when the ball's dug in short you can get under it," he said. "Generally on quicker pitches you get more opportunity to score and spin is not so hard to confront. It's hard work, but on slower pitches it's sometimes harder to score which is the main aim of going out there.

"I back my technique on these sort of wickets more than I would on a dog-heap, so I don't mind it. Lee bowled me a short one off the first ball of my innings and I saw it and that's always a relief rather than worrying about one coming. No matter how brave you are if you haven't got the technique for it and you're being peppered it isn't much fun - that's when the true courage comes out."

Meanwhile Lee, who took three for 78 on his recall in place of Andy Bichel, said: "It is pretty frustrating [not playing] but I knew the guys have been bowling well. `Bich' has done great job. It was a matter of going back into playing, staying calm and trying to find my rhythm and confidence and that is what I achieved."