LONDON, (Reuters) – Australia claimed the honours on  the opening day of the final Ashes test at the Oval yesterday  after England again found a variety of ways to squander their  wickets.

England, needing a win to reclaim the Ashes, were 307 for  eight at the close of another fascinating day in the series, on  a pitch their batsman Ian Bell said resembled a turning Indian  surface rather than a typical Oval track.

Marcus North extracted sharp turn with his occasional  off-spin after the pitch had been left uncovered on Wednesday to  bake under the hottest day of the English summer.

Bell, who justified the decision to promote him to the  pivotal number three position with the top score of 72, said it  had been frustrating at times trying to time the ball. “I guess after the spin we have seen on day one which is  quite unusual for here we are quite happy to have runs on the  board,” he told a news conference. “We don’t know what is a good  score here until Australia bat.

“It is very unusual at the Oval to see it spinning like that  and so dry and hopefully that’s a good thing for us. I don’t  think it will be particularly easy to bat last on.”

Neither team could have anticipated how the pitch would  play.

England left out their second spinner Monty Panesar and  Australia omitted Nathan Hauritz, keeping faith with the pace  attack who bowled the home side out twice within three days in  the fourth test at Headingley.

Andrew Strauss won the toss for the fourth time and  England’s only century-maker of the series moved confidently to  55 with 11 boundaries punched square of the wicket.

He was out shortly after lunch caught behind from a straight  delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus, although television replays  indicated it had been a no-ball.