English centurion Dawid Malan and plucky Mark Stoneman have produced Test-best knocks on a rare day of dominance over Australia.
England are 4-305 at stumps on Thursday's opening day of the third Test at Perth's WACA Ground, with Malan posting a maiden Test ton and Stoneman making a half-century.
Malan (110no) and Stoneman (56) eclipsed their previous highest Test scores, with only paceman Mitchell Starc (2-79) taking multiple wickets.
England No.6 Jonny Bairstow (75no) also blunted Australia's bowlers, whose main successes came in a brutal burst of short-pitched bowling.
Stoneman copped a fearsome blow on the helmet as Australia's trio of quicks - Starc, Josh Hazlewood (1-62) and Pat Cummins (1-60) - went for the jugular in the middle session.
"It was hostile. It was quite tough to work out a way to play that," Malan said.
Hazlewood struck Stoneman with a vicious short ball but the England opener, after receiving medical checks and a new helmet, continued batting - and became an unwitting victim in a day-one flashpoint.
Stoneman tried to fend off a head-high Starc delivery, the Australians maintained brushed a glove on the way to wicketkeeper Tim Paine, who leapt high and, at full stretch, caught the ball with one hand.
Umpire Marais Erasmus gave Stoneman not out but the Australians reviewed and one replay appeared to show the ball brushed the English opener's glove that wasn't holding the bat.
When replays using noise technology indicated a sound, television umpire Aleem Dar gave Stoneman out.
"We were pretty confident ... I thought it was out straight away," Paine said.
But as Stoneman trudged off, English skipper Joe Root appeared at the change room door and seemingly urged him to stay on the field.
But after initially hesitating, Stoneman walked off - a later replay from a different angle showed the correct call was made as the ball flicked the opener's glove that was holding his bat.
Stoneman's demise left England 4-131 - they had slipped from relative pre-lunch comfort of 1-89.
But the London-born Malan and Bairstow then figured in a pivotal unbroken partnership of 174 runs.
The stand was punctuated by Malan, on 92, being dropped at third slip by Cameron Bancroft from Starc's first delivery with the second new ball.
Bancroft's blunder was one of three dropped catches - Mitchell Marsh, recalled at Peter Handscomb's expense, and Nathan Lyon also turfed opportunities.
Malan scored England's first ton this series - and the nation's first in Australia since the now-suspended Ben Stokes four years ago - as they seek to stay alive in the Ashes.
Australia hold a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
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