England collapse to be all out for 291

SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) Shane Warne claimed his 1,000th international wicket as England collapsed to be all out for 291 in their first innings of the second day of the fifth Ashes test against Australia today.

England lost their last six wickets for just 46 runs, while Australia were four without loss from one over in reply when lunch was taken, with Justin Langer scoring all the runs from a boundary off Andrew Flintoff.

Warne capped his farewell to test cricket by trapping Monty Panesar leg before wicket for a duck to join Muttiah Muralitharan as the only players to claim 1,000 international victims, adding together their test and one-day wickets.

England had resumed on 234 for four and were looking to build on their encouraging performance from day one only to see their lower-order batting crumble after the Australian seamers took the second new ball.

The only Englishman to show any sustained resistance was skipper Flintoff, who made an aggressive 89 in easily his best performance of the summer.

Flintoff started the day on 42 and quickly brought up his second half-century of the series with a three off Australia's retiring paceman Glenn McGrath.

GOLDEN DUCK The skipper belted 11 fours and a six before throwing his wicket away at the end chasing his first century since the last Ashes series in 2005.

McGrath triggered England's collapse when he dismissed Paul Collingwood for 27, caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, just moments after Langer, who is also quitting after the match, had given him a life by dropping him at third slip.

Brett Lee then chipped in with two wickets in successive balls to leave the tourists reeling at 258-7.

He dismissed England wicketkeeper Chris Read for two with a short ball outside off stump that found a healthy edge on the way through to Gilchrist.

Sajid Mahmood was out for a golden duck, following his pair in Melbourne, when he fended a vicious bouncer from Lee to Matthew Hayden at gully.

Steve Harmison held out for 51 minutes for his two runs before Stuart Clark trapped him lbw with a full toss.

Flintoff followed shortly after when he danced down the pitch and tried to smash Clark but got a top edge for Gilchrist.

Langer dropped his third catch of the innings when he grassed a chance off Panesar but Warne finished him off to leave Australia handily placed in the chase for their first Ashes series clean sweep in 86 years.

Reuters DH VP0735