Australia trailed England by 49 runs on 123-9 at the end of an extraordinary opening day of the Ashes series on Friday at Perth Stadium, where bowlers had very much the upper hand and a remarkable 19 wickets fell.

Mitchell Starc, spearheading the home attack in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, took a career-best 7-58 as Australia dismissed the tourists for 172 before tea.

The large visiting contingent in the crowd of 51,531 were soon in full voice, however, as England skipper Ben Stokes led a pace counter-offensive to rip through the Australian batting order and claim his own five-wicket haul with figures of 5-23.

Nathan Lyon, who was three not out, and debutant quick Brendan Doggett, who had yet to score, will resume on day two looking to cut a few more runs off the deficit.

"What a day. I think everyone that's come today has got their time worth - 19 wickets," England seamer Brydon Carse said in a pitch-side interview. "Fantastic last session from everyone to put us in a strong position heading into tomorrow."

Action-packed opening day

The action-packed opening day, which saw more wickets fall on any single day of an Ashes test since 1909, evoked memories of the first day of last year's test between Australia and India at the same stadium when 17 first-day wickets fell.

After opting to bat first, England were stunned in the opening over when Zak Crawley was tempted into a drive by an angled Starc delivery, which edged to first slip, and departed for a duck.

Starc followed up by trapping Ben Duckett leg-before with a full inswinger for 21.

His 100th Ashes wicket came when he had Joe Root, looking nowhere near scoring his first test hundred Down Under, out for nought to a ball that found Marnus Labuschagne at third slip.

Ollie Pope scored 46 before giving all-rounder Cameron Green his only wicket while Starc got his fourth when Stokes was clean-bowled on six.

Doggett picked up his maiden test wicket when top-scorer Harry Brook was caught-behind for an aggressive 52, before Starc returned to celebrate his fifth Ashes five-wicket haul and 17th overall when Gus Atkinson was caught in the slips.

Starc rounded out his first seven-wicket haul by removing Jamie Smith for 33 and sending Mark Wood back for a duck as England's dogged adherence to the aggressive 'Bazball' approach saw the last four wickets add only 12 runs.

Weatherald stint short-lived

Late in the second session, debutant Jake Weatherald opened for Australia but his stint was short-lived as he was given out lbw for a second-ball duck to Jofra Archer, who took 2-11 in nine overs.

Consistently bowling at speeds of nearly 150 kph, Archer and Wood set the tone for the tourists, ably supported by Stokes and Carse, who pitched in with 2-45.

Archer soon had Labuschagne, opening for Usman Khawaja who had been off the field for too long at the end of England's innings, chopping onto his stumps for nine trying to leave a short ball.

The locals were roughed up by several body blows, with stand-in skipper Steve Smith, who made 17, and Khawaja, who scored two, ultimately departing in quick succession to Carse.

Stokes quickly accounted for Green for 24, Starc for 12 and Carey for 26 and completed his sixth test ‘five-fer’ when Scott Boland edged the ball to Brook for zero.