Thorp rips through England top order

PERTH, Oct 24 AAP - Fringe West Australian quick Callum Thorp continued England's poor start to its Ashes tour on day one of a two-day match at the WACA ground.

The 27-year-old paceman had taken 3-25 to have the tourists at 4-73 at lunch with opener Marcus Trescothick (41no) and veteran Alec Stewart (17no) at the crease.

Buoyed after captaining the ACB Chairman's XI to a midweek win over the tourists, Michael Hussey sent England into bat on a pitch with a green tinge on it.

Thorp trapped England opener Robert Keys (4) in his second over of play before taking a sharp return catch to dismiss Mark Butcher (7).

And the 27-year-old troubled England captain Nasser Hussain (1) from his opening ball to him and eventually had him caught behind in his ninth straight over.

Left-armer Michael Clark completed the home team's successful opening session by sending John Crawley back to the pavilion for a duck.

However Trescothick and Stewart had set about trying to resurrect the innings with an unbeaten 25-run partnership by lunch.