Associated Press

London, July 24:

Australia beat England by 239 runs on day four of the first Ashes cricket Test at Lord’s on Sunday. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne took four wickets each to bowl out England for 180 in its second innings, handing Australia a 1-0 lead in the five-Test series. Simon Jones was the last man out, caught by Warne off the bowling of McGrath for no score. That left Kevin Pietersen as the not out batsman on 64, making him top scorer on his debut in each of England’s innings. He made 57 in the first innings. Rain washed out the first two sessions on Sunday before England resumed at 156 for five, with Pietersen not out 42 and Geraint Jones unbeaten with 6. Geraint Jones failed to add to his overnight score, spooning a McGrath delivery straight to Jason Gillespie at mid-on.

Two balls later, McGrath struck again when he had Ashley Giles caught by Matthew Hayden at gully for no score. The rain caused another stoppage after 20 minutes, in which time 23 balls had been bowled, but the shower was short-lived and play resumed a short time later. Not long after the resumption, Matthew Hoggard was out leg-before-wicket to McGrath without scoring and Steve Harmison followed in the same fashion to the bowling of Warne. Australia had set England a target of 420 — the highest ever fourth-innings total to win a Test match. The West Indies reached 418 for seven to beat Australia at St John’s in Antigua in 2002-03.

Only once has a team successfully chased more than 300 runs to win a Test at Lord’s. The West Indies made 344 for one to pass a target of 342 for a nine-wicket victory over England in 1984. McGrath, who also took five wickets in the first innings, finished with 4-29 for the second. Warne took 4-64 in the second innings, while Brett Lee took 2-58, both his second-innings wickets coming on day three. Australia made 190 in its first innings and 384 in the second, while England was all out for 155 in its first innings.