Glenn McGrath is ready to reopen old Ashes wounds by "nailing" England in the first Test at the Gabba.

The pace great proved 10 months out of Test cricket only sharpened his hunger for wickets when he dismissed England's openers in successive balls in his third comeback over.

The 36-year-old defied a limited build-up to produce a stunning burst late on day two, which left England neck-deep in trouble and needing a miracle to save the match.

"We really want to get out there and nail it and show 'em why we are the best team in the world," was McGrath's chilling message later.

McGrath's 2-25 and a wicket to Stuart Clark (1-9) left the tourists 3-53 and needing 350 more runs to avoid the follow-on.

Australia amassed 9(dec)-602, the fifth-highest Ashes total scored in this country.

Captain Ricky Ponting was merciless in his 196, Mike Hussey (86) and Michael Clarke (56) kept the runs coming and then Clark (39) and Brett Lee (43 not out) belted the tourists around the ground.

With the ball swinging again, the pitch fast, bouncy and beginning to crack up and McGrath and Shane Warne the danger men once again, England's best hopes of survival lay with more Australians taking out their teammates.

Australia lost Lee for 30 minutes to a gash above his left knee, which was caused by the spikes on Hussey's boot just as the West Australian ran past and took a fine running catch to dismiss Andrew Strauss for 12.

The Australians' joy at McGrath's first wicket in the 10 months since he stepped out of Test cricket to help his wife Jane fight cancer was immediately halted when they saw Lee on the turf clutching his leg.

Lee left the ground and had the cut strapped, but returned soon after.

McGrath at least made up for the loss of his pace partner when he produced the perfect leg-cutter to remove Alastair Cook, caught at slip for 11, next ball.

Clark's wicket of Paul Collingwood (five), caught behind to push Adam Gilchrist past Rod Marsh and into third on the wicketkeeping table, left England facing a testing day.

"To see their openers get out early, there's no worse feeling," McGrath said.

"We'll be trying to drive it home tomorrow.

"A lot of times in Australia, when we go one-up there's not too many series we lose, so we won't be taking it easy for the rest of this Test and then from then on for the rest of this series."

England No.3 Ian Bell (13 not out) will reacquaint himself with Warne and McGrath, his nemeses of the 2005 series, and the tourists must get a massive contribution from Kevin Pietersen (six not out) their key batsman.

But McGrath is also keen on making up for lost time, especially on a wicket which is "like Christmas" to bowl on after spending his preparation for this series on slow pitches in Malaysia and India.

"I was probably 95 per cent happy with the way I bowled and I reckon I'm that close from being exactly where I want to be," he said.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I think I can really nail it tomorrow and a couple of early wickets, who knows?"

Although Steve Harmison again struggled, England's bowling improved on the back of captain Andrew Flintoff, who bowled his heart out for 4-99.

Tomorrow he will be asked to save his side with the bat, although he denied England was broken.

"There's a lot of character in this side and we're up for the challenge of this series," Flintoff said.

"After two days we're not deflated, we've just got to get better."

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