James Anderson insisted England could not look too far ahead despite finishing a magnificent first day of the Boxing Day Test 59 runs ahead in Melbourne.

Anderson and Chris Tremlett shared eight wickets as they bowled Australia out for 98 in two sessions before Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss put on 157 without loss.

Should England win in Melbourne and go 2-1 up in the series they would retain the Ashes but Anderson refuses to accept victory is a certainty.

He said: "It is too soon, we have got a lot of hard work to do with the bat in the next day and hopefully more than a day.

"By the way of how flat the pitch has got this afternoon we are going to have to do quite well to bowl them out.

"It's going to be four days of really hard work."

However, he admitted England could scarcely have enjoyed a better day, adding: "It couldn't have gone much better for us.

"It was a great decision to bowl first, I thought we bowled fantastic all day."

On whether the conditions changed during the game, Anderson said: "I think they did. There was some grass there early on, a bit of seam movement and a bit of cloud cover as well so we did make best use of that.

"I thought it was probably our best performance of the trip as a bowling unit."

Australia coach Tim Nielsen did not try to hide his disappointment at his team's woeful batting effort with Michael Clarke's knock of 20 the hosts' top score.

He said: "Coming off the back of Perth where we thought we played well and got back into the contest to have such a poor day consistently over the full six hours is disappointing.

"It's a little bit hard to (explain) - it was just one of those things of the game.

"But I don't accept being bowled out for 98.

"They caught pretty well everything that came their way.

"The momentum has certainly shifted and we will have to work hard tomorrow to get back into the contest."

However, Neilsen refused to write off his side's chances, adding: "If we get some overcast conditions which have been forecast and if we can bowl a better length. We allowed them to sit back a little bit.

"Our job tomorrow is to ask questions of the batsmen that are in at the moment."

Nielsen admitted he would like to get more runs from the top order rather than look to Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin while acknowledging Ricky Ponting's lack of runs is a hindrance to both man and team.

"It doesn't help him. It's hard work when your team is not going well and being a proud man he would like to contribute more himself," he said.

"He's a strong man.

"We've got to be clear on how we are.

"We've got to be sure we are all on the same page, we cant hide the mess we are in at the moment, we have made our own bed."