2nd Ashes Test: Australia show they can switch between different gears to post 339/5 on Day One at Lord’s against England

Sometimes teams get caught up in their hype so much that when cold hard reality strikes, they are brought down to terra firma with a big thud. With all that England players said after narrowly losing the first Test, there was expectation that hosts would walk the talk. It may be a tad unfair to say that the Bazball practitioners blinked, but as the first day at Lord’s unfolded, it was the hardened Aussies who came through tough batting conditions before capitalising on the good work the openers. Two wickets in one over late in the day from the unlikely source of Joe Root may have given the hosts a sniff, but a score of 339/5 at stumps showed that the opening skirmish had gone Australia’s way.
And as was expected in some quarters, it were the middle-order stalwarts Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne who made up, to some extent, for a quiet game at Edgbaston. Smith was 15 short of another Test century at close, having put on a century partnership with the Aussie No.3.
Bazball as a cricketing philosophy is tailor-made for a generation with attention deficit disorder, who don’t seem to have the patience to sit through an attritional passage of play, which may be described as turgid or boring. But the England players themselves may be guilty of not focusing on the basics enough. Like making the batsmen play enough on a greentop, or clinging on to chances that come in the slips.
In the lead-up to the Lord’s Test, the likes of Ollie Robinson and Zak Crawley talked a good game, to such an extent that one wondered whether it was England 1-0 up; the idea being that the hosts were somehow moral victors of the Edgbaston thriller for the ‘exciting’ and ‘entertaining’ brand of cricket they played.But as Usman Khawaja and David Warner put their heads down after being sent in Ben Stokes, respecting the overcast conditions and the green cover on the pitch – unfazed Just Stop Oil pitch invaders before the second over of the game and two rain interruptions – the merits of the conventional way of playing Test cricket became evident.
England’s Ben Stokes grabs a Just Stop Oil protestor, during day one of the second Ashes Test cricket match at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, England, Wednesday, June 28, 2023. AP/PTI(AP06_28_2023_000161A)
Basics let England down
There was extravagant swing on offer, but little pace or bounce, and the slip fielders didn’t help England’s cause either. If the low chance offered Khawaja to Joe Root at first slip was a tough one (maybe wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow was caught flat-footed), the one off Warner’s bat flew at a catchable height to Ollie Pope in the cordon before bursting through his hands. That the chance came off Stuart Broad’s bowling added to the significance, as for once Warner lived to tell the tale.
Khawaja fell on the stroke of lunch, shouldering arms to a Josh Tongue delivery that nipped back to hit the top of off-stump, but Warner had already gone past his tally in the 2019 Ashes while into just his third innings of the series.
The pitch had plenty to offer those who could move the ball, but was crying out for someone with an extra yard of pace. Tongue was the briskest of the England bowlers, but didn’t have the speed to rattle quality batsmen. But he did hit the spots which troubled batsmen with movement off the surface. With Broad, Robinson and James Anderson rarely going beyond medium pace, the England attack comprising five right-arm seamers with no special spinner seemed devoid of variety.
England’s Ollie Robinson reacts as Australia add runs during day one of the second Ashes Test cricket match at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, England, Wednesday, June 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
As for Warner, he showed glimpses in Brimingham of getting into his groove, and the tough conditions on the first morning got him moving his feet in a positive manner. Apart from two versions of sweeps against the seamers, he played to the merit of the ball and was generally content to play close to his body and under his eyes. It took an exceptional delivery from Tongue to breach his defence, but Warner can look forward to the rest of the series expecting to exorcise some of the ghosts from four years ago.
Capitalising on hard work
England exerted some control over proceedings for brief periods – even though they may claim that it’s all-out attack for them throughout – but never long enough to make full use of the helpful conditions. It was almost as if the ‘boring’ qualities of line and length and consency were not for them. But for a team which swears positive cricket, it was interesting to see them being reduced to two slips and plenty of boundary riders as Smith and Travis Head went about doing what they did to India in the World Test Championship final. Smith began like a man in a hurry and was 20 off 14 balls before settling down for the long haul.
As for Head, for all his perceived weakness against the short-pitched stuff aimed at his body, his aggressive approach against everything England threw at him tilted the day decisively in the visitors’ favour. He fell for 77 off just 73 balls while trying to take down Root with a few overs left for the second new ball, but with there being signs of some turn on Day 1 itself, England may rue leaving out Moeen Ali as Nathan Lyon is likely to get more out of the pitch later in the game.

After being accused of playing conservative and catch-up cricket for much of the time at Edgbaston, the Australian run rate exceeded four an over in largely bowler-friendly conditions as the overs into the legs of the main England bowlers began to show. For a long time in the final session, there were three substitute fielders on. It showed that Pat Cummins’ team has various gears it can go through as per the situation, while England seemed to be expecting the pitch and conditions to do most of the work for them after winning the toss, and were left searching for answers once the Aussies dug in.