Unbeaten century from Andrew Strauss leads England to victory in Perth

A century for Andrew Strauss, his first for England in Australia, completed a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to the opening game of the Ashes tour as they beat Western Australia by six wickets with 26 balls to spare at the Waca. Strauss, who made a hundred for an England Academy XI in Adelaide nine years ago, made an unbeaten 120 in three hours as England paced their pursuit of 243 in 52 overs to perfection. It was his first England hundred since the Lord's Test against Australia in the summer of 2009. Four wickets for Graeme Swann, at what has always been one of the tougher grounds in the world to bowl off-spin, added to England's pleasure. England spoke before the tour of wanting to prepare for the opening Test in Brisbane by winning proper matches, and not indulge in the sort of 14-a-side practice match that was preferred by Duncan Fletcher in Perth on England's last Ashes tour. They achieved exactly that. "At the start of play it was looking a tough ask to force a result," Strauss said. "In the first innings we were stuck in net mode a bit and didn't react as well as we should. We could have gone through the motions on the final day, but we came in and hit the ground running. We are delighted. It was satisfying to get a hundred and see the guys home, but I'm sure there are sterner tests ahead." The only blemish was a second failure for Alastair Cook, who was bowled by Michael Hogan as he appeared to misread the line. Jonathan Trott has done enough groundwork in both innings to be reasonably satisfied with his lot. Ian Bell looks ready to flower. Paul Collingwood struggled for timing, but did enough to keep England's innings on track. But the innings that eased England's victory was Kevin Pietersen's 35 from 22 balls, which justified his opinion expressed the previous evening that he is "on fire" again. He fell lbw, reverse-sweeping the left-arm spinner Matt Beer, and departed with some reluctance, flames doused by the umpire. England's chase was assisted not only by the absence of Steve Magoffin with knee trouble, but the reluctance of Marcus North, Western Australia's captain, to bowl himself, presumably hiding his repertoire – a limited repertoire at that – before Brisbane. England had a productive day in the field, transforming Western Australia's dominant 109-1 overnight into 223 all out. Steve Finn's confidence will have been helped by a second wicket, although he might have been fortunate to win an lbw verdict against Liam Davis with a ball of full length. The bowler who really settled into his work, however, was Swann, who is a pivotal part of England's Ashes attack and whose four wickets represented a solid beginning. Success for any spinner at the Waca should not be regarded lightly. Historically, it has been a graveyard for such bowlers. Of the 20 leading wicket-takers in Tests at the Waca only two are spinners: Shane Warne, and even he did not take a five-for here, and Bruce Yardley, a Western Australian who knew the square as well as anybody. Swann would probably be happiest with the dismissal of the left-handed Wes Robinson, who was drawn down the pitch and stumped by Matt Prior. There was also Luke Pomersbach's slice to cover as he failed to loft down the ground, a return catch as he deceived Luke Ronchi in the flight and Cook's catch at short leg to dismiss Matt Beer. His only source of discomfort came when a few balls sailed into the crowd courtesy of some last-wicket slogging. What really set England on course for victory, though, was the run out of North, a direct hit, running in from square leg, by Eoin Morgan, a substitute who was briefly on the field for Strauss. The last run out against Australia that involved an England substitute, famously, came when Gary Pratt threw out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge in 2005 and Ponting viewed the whole affair as sharp practice, shouting towards the England dressing room as he stomped through the crowd. On this occasion, North walked quietly through a peaceful crowd without as much as a raised eyebrow. And some people say he would make an Australian captain …