Ian Bell scored his second century in as many innings but Steven Smith spoilt England’s party with a late haul of three wickets for Australia on the first day of the second Ashes Test. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 8.00pm AEST.
Batting first was the right way to go about it for England on a rather flat-looking surface at Lord’s but they will be ruing the loss of three wickets in a clusters on two separate occasions.
First Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen fell within a space of 11 deliveries of each other.
Then Smith came out of nowhere and broke the English back in the third session by picking up three wickets in a six-over spell that sent the English side tumbling from 4/271 to 7/283 before the number eight and nine added another six more to the total.
England will be disappointed by their performance. Like how Bell showed, as did his partnerships with Jonathin Trott and later with Jonny Bairstow, it wasn’t a track they should have lost seven wickets in a day.
Credit where its due though. Australian captain Michael Clarke made some excellent changes in the first and the third sessions.
Bringing Shane Watson on after only four overs in the day and then throwing the ball to Smith when the new ball could well have been taken.
That said, the task is barely complete. First, Australia need to run through the tail given how well Tim Bresnan bats – he has a Test average of more than 30.
With Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann always ready to chip in with the bat, the last thing Australia need on the second day is for the team to run away with a score touching 400.
Then on to their batting. While the pitch can be expected to be at its best on the second and third day, Australia have generally struggled with the bat in recent times.
Anderson will continue to hold the key but the visitors can probably take heart from their performance in the second innings of the Trent Bridge Test.
Every batsman will need to put up a lot of value to his wicket and try and eke out a lead.
More vitally Australia will hope to bat long into the third day and not allow England to use the best of the batting conditions second time around.
England’s task first up isn’t a simple one. They will be up against the new ball first up and the sense one gets watching them bat is they will go after it. Not too much hanging about.
Then, with the ball, it will be interesting to see whether the likes of Anderson, Broad and Bresnan can maintain the kind of control that Australia failed to after grabbing the first three wickets.
There were a couple of them that turned for Smith, so that will keep Graeme Swann interested.
Follow the live score and blog of the second day’s play of the second Test from 8.00pm AEST. You can join me for this live blog and post your comments below.
Felix
Guest
Rogers has copped two crap decisions out of his 3 innings and looks by far more comfortable than many others in the team. That was Usman's first innings for a long time, in a team that has been stripped apart, had the sides taken off then built back together in a suspect Western Sydney chop shop. Cut him some slack mate, geez one bad innings and he's getting dropped, harsh selecting there.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Yes dcnz England don't seem to be entirely reliant on Anderson do they? look, Tremlett will be back soon. I pity poor Watteau. Why do Australia have an 18th century French artist opening the batting?
dcnz
Guest
well even though the Aussie batting was rubbish those knocking Broad and Swann for being average last week got it wrong.
Connor
Roar Rookie
How embarrassing. What a disaster. All I can say.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
It is the end Dan. It is the end.
Dan H
Guest
Wow. What a nightmare I certainly didnt expect this when I went to bed at lunch. Only hope is for an absolute blinder from the bowlers and the batsmen to have some kind of miracle swing in form. Looks like the end though.
andrew
Guest
add pigoen mcgrath
Tom Callaghan
Guest
It will Cantab mate! It will also be England's fourth consecutive victory in Tests against Australia. England have beaten Australia in five consecutive ODIs too. Look, (I don't think we need to use the word 'if'. better to use the word 'when')
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Even if England get bowled out for less than 200 they will have a lead far in excess of Australia's capacity to chase.
Deccas
Guest
couldnt agree more jo m. i thought starc bowled better than patto in the first innings and i wasn't surprised to see pattinson go the plenty in the first innings of this one. If it was solely on form then patto woulda been dropped. I think we should go in with bird siddle harris next test, or bird siddle starc if hnarris isn't up to two in a row
Deccas
Guest
do you remember the footage of howard rolling a ball overarm down at some very embarresed lookng soldiers. he was the sporting skill of a cardboard box
Deccas
Guest
you cant but there are certain times when openers should never lose their wicket and watson and warner for that matter both tend to lose their wickets just before or after breaks.
johnb747b
Guest
128 was always a disaster waiting to happen. To state the obvious it was embarrassing to watch. I'd bring back Bird for the 3rd. He did well in consecutive Shield seasons & is I think ideal for English conditions. Like Anderson he believes in attacking the stumps, in making batsmen think hard about every ball, about the virtue of line & length. Our no. 3? At least for the rest of this series I think Clarke should step into the breech. Katich is definitely worth a thought for his grit & determination, old fashioned 'head down, arse up' technique. The leadership at CA is reaping its 'rewards' & should leave the scene gracefully. Years have been wasted. I'd put my faith in Boof & Rod Marsh to devise a turnaround strategy. There would be plenty in the wings to offer advice: Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Warnie, Dean Jones... The 'mix' of cricket has changed dramatically in recent times & one needs to accept that things evolve. It is tragic, however, when evolution impinges on our Sheffield Shield comp, the nursery of so many champions of the game. The task of reinvention will not be easy. There will be no quick fix. England managed to claw themselves back, though with the likes of Pietersen. Oz cricket has the task in front of it. The world used to acknowledge our Cricket Academy & our program of identifying emerging talent. It has cost a lot, financially & emotionally, to witness the hoisting of the white flag at Lords. Having said all that, I'm glad that finding the solution is not my problem!
buddha9
Guest
mate none of the batsmen covered themselves in glory -- Hughes 's shot was atrocious considering the circumstances but he barely cops any criticism at all and he's played a lot more tests than USman K -- both shots were crap hughes, and UK's ---- don't start on one bloke the whole teams is responsible.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Graeme Swann got his first wicket today with a full-toss that slipped out of his hand. And the batsman wasn't even out. After that there was no faulting him though as he ran through the Australian batting and got himself a five-wicket bowling Australia out for a meager 128. It wasn't a pitch where you score 128 - there was no exaggerated swing or seam and while Swann was getting some turn, the batsmen should have played him much better. As it turned out, England got themselves a 233-run lead and did not enforce the follow-on. They would have looked to bat Australia out of the game - and can still do that - but will be a tad wary having lost three wickets for 31. Joe Root's still at the crease with Tim Bresnan, with Bell, Bairstow and Prior still to come. The way Australia have batted, a target of 350 will be a tough one to chase but then we saw what happened in the second innings at Trent Bridge. England will look to bat as long as possible into the day. That's it from me tonight, I won't be on tomorrow - bit of a break for me - but rest assured the live blog will continue! Ciao, have a good night and hope to see you on Sunday!
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
That's that then, a day that belonged to England despite having lost six wickets in the day. That's because Australia lost 10. England end the day on 3/31, and are ahead by 264.
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Three dots and the silly point comes in for Smith. Smith bowls a full-toss that's tapped to the leg side for a single. Bresnan to face the last two.
Cantab
Guest
Will this be the sixth consecutive loss? (If it England win)
Tom from Perth
Guest
Hang on, what? Did you see him at Trent Bridge and did you see his first spell in the second innings tonight? Mate he is the foundation of our bowling attack which is the only positive of our team...
Suneer Chowdhary
Roar Guru
Fourth successive maiden, this from Harris. One more over to go and yep, my wish's granted. We have Steven Smith to bowl to Root. 3/30 in 19