Yorkshire duo have laid down marker to frontline Ashes attack, says Moxon

Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad took five wickets between them as England dismissed Australia A for 230 on day one of their final warm-up match before the first Ashes Test in Brisbane next Thursday.

England's response reached 22-1 before stumps but it was the performance of the bowlers that took the headlines, not least Monty Panesar for a stunning right-handed diving catch that defied the scorn he receives for his perceived sub-standard fielding.

With the frontline attack of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn and Graeme Swann having been sent to Brisbane to prepare for the first Test, Chris Tremlett led the way on a spicy Bellerive Oval pitch with a four-wicket haul despite an untimely throat infection, with Shahzad taking three wickets and Bresnan two.

Bresnan is part of England's 16-man Ashes squad while Shahzad is touring Australia as part of the performance party.

England's starting attack for Brisbane appears set in stone, but for Martyn Moxon, the Yorkshire duo's county coach watching the action back home, his two players yesterday laid down a marker.

"I saw a little bit of it and obviously it appeared as though the conditions suited a seam bowler, but having said that you have still got to put the ball in the right areas," said Moxon, Yorkshire's director of professional cricket.

"It will have done Ajmal a lot of good. He went out to Australia worried that he wouldn't be playing that much.

"So that will have delighted him yesterday, firstly to get some game time and secondly to get some wickets.

"In a five-match Test series you'll do well to keep a four-man frontline bowling unit fit and in-form the whole way through.

"So Tim will get his chance, and Ajmal may do so as well.

"It was important for them yesterday to put a marker down and that's exactly what they did."

Tremlett (4-54) was statistically the most successful bowler but Shahzad (3-57) was arguably the most telling.

The 25-year-old Huddersfield-born right-arm quick's probing new-ball spell from the river end in the opening exchanges brought him just one wicket, if perhaps the most notable scalp.

No 3 Usman Khawaja – touted as a possible debutant for next week's first Test – got an edge behind pushing forward.

It was no more than fair reward for Shahzad, who had narrowly beaten Khawaja and opener Ed Cowan's outside edge several times on a green-tinged surface providing bounce and seam movement under cloud cover.

Tremlett and first-change Bresnan (2-65) also cashed in to share the wickets of Phil Hughes, Callum Ferguson, Cowan and captain Cameron White before lunch.

Pontefract-born Bresnan, 25, doubled up with a delivery which nipped away cruelly off the pitch to open up Ferguson and take a faint edge for Matt Prior's second catch.

Bresnan then bagged a bonus wicket when, after switching to Shahzad's end, Cowan pulled an innocuous short ball just within the grasp of Panesar, who surprised even himself when he clung on to the chance one-handed away to his right at mid-wicket.

Shahzad got reward for his solid day's work with two quick wickets just after tea. The Yorkshire seamer firstly produced a delivery that snuck past Steven Smith's defence before finding some late swing to remove Clint McKay to a bat-pad catch at short leg.

Paul Collingwood broke the ninth-wicket stand of Steve O'Keefe and Mark Cameron when he induced an edge from Cameron through to Prior.

Tremlett then finished matters when O'Keefe top-edged the first delivery with the new ball for Prior to take his fifth catch.

Tremlett, who passed a late fitness test on the morning of the game, said: "I had a bit of an infection, a bit of a temperature.

"But I've been waiting a long time for an opportunity, so it wasn't really going to stop me playing. I took a few pills and managed to get through. It would have taken a lot for me not to play."

England captain Charlotte Edwards yesterday became the most capped woman in world cricket. The 30-year-old, who made her debut in 1996, took charge of her side in yesterday's second one-day international against Sri Lanka in Galle, her 142nd one-day international – overtaking the previous record held by Karen Rolton of Australia.

She said: "I'm very proud of my achievement. It's been an unbelievable journey."

The match ended in a draw as bad weather brought a halt to proceedings with England 30-1 in reply to Sri Lanka's 173-8.