England bowler Steven Finn remains hopeful that his pace partner Stuart Broad would return to lead the English side's pace attack for the second day of the first test on Thursday.

Steven Finn
Reuters

Broad picked up an injury while batting on the opening day of the Ashes, which has seen him leave James Anderson and Finn to lead his side's bowling attack. The Three Lions were bowled out for 215 in their first innings and in reply, Australia ended the day with 75-4.

"The extent of the damage, I don't know. He'll receive treatment overnight and he'll come back on Thursday when we'll see how he is. We're hoping he'll be fit. If not I'll have to bowl a few more overs, I think, and we'll just have to rotate ourselves," Finn told Sky Sports.

Meanwhile, Finn who dismissed Shane Watson and Ed Cowan in successive deliveries in his second over believes the start of the second day would be crucial for Alastair Cook's side in restricting Australia from taking a lead in the first test.

"The first hour will be very important - how we set the tone as bowlers and how we attack Australia. A few early wickets and we could put our noses in front. It's pretty even at the moment, a very tight battle. To have them four down at the end of the day was a good result for us," Finn explained.

In the absence of Broad, Finn was well accompanied by Anderson, who also managed to pick two wickets. He believes with the help of the Three Lions leading most experienced bowler, England were able to make a comeback with the ball after failing to post a huge total on the board.

"I think we fought back really well in that last session. Jimmy is a special bowler and has been for a long time. It's testament to producing and developing new skills and the ball that got Michael Clarke was an absolute beauty. We've seen him do that a few times with magic balls. I thought we played really nicely until lunch, but we know we deal well with setbacks," he added.

Australia