England thrive in Lord’s gloom

England finds itself in a commanding position at the end of the second day at Lord’s, with Australia slumping to 8-156 at stumps – still 69 runs short of avoiding the follow on.

Jimmy Anderson collected four wickets as the Australian middle order that performed so well in Cardiff struggled under overcast north London skies.

Only three Australians reached double figures on a day where bowlers prospered and, had bad light and rain not intervened, the damage for the tourists could have been even worse.

The walking wounded pairing of Nathan Hauritz and Peter Siddle lasted until stumps, despite suffering from the aftermath of a dislocated finger and a stomach upset respectively.

Australia’s only bright spot with the bat was a determined 93-run partnership between Simon Katich and Mike Hussey, as they set about rebuilding from a disastrous start to the innings.

Jimmy Anderson removed both Phil Hughes, gloving an attempted pull to a ball aimed down the legside, and Ricky Ponting – wrongly ruled to have been caught at slip (though was probably LBW anyway) early. When the out of sorts Hussey walked to the crease, Australia was 2/10.

But, during his slow and steady innings of 51, Hussey looked the most comfortable he has at the crease in a while. His innings ended when fatally misjudging a Flintoff delivery that went on to clip the top of off stump.

It was a mistake also made by Andrew Strauss, to the second ball of the day, as Ben Hilfenhaus gifted Australia a perfect start. He didn’t add to his overnight tally of 161 before a mixture of swing and movement off the seam resulted in his leave looking foolish.

England’s long batting tail proved valuable as Jimmy Anderson followed up his Cardiff efforts with an innings of 29, including 5 boundaries. Between the wicket of Strauss and the end to Anderson’s innings, England added 61 to their total – more than any Australian batsman has managed thus far.

At the end of the first day there was doubt about just who had the upper hand but there’s no confusion now: England is on track, weather permitting, to win their first Test at Lord’s since 1934. And to think this is the same team that struggled to take six Australian wickets in Cardiff.