Back-to-back century stands anchored by an unruffled and unbeaten Steve Smith, bookended by contrasting knocks from Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, powered Australia to a formidable position before Joe Root took two wickets in an over to offer a semblance of fightback from England on the first day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Wednesday.
At stumps, Australia were 339/5, scoring at a shade over four runs an over on a day England’s seamers were supposed to rule the roost after Ben Stokes had chosen to bowl under an overcast sky.
Usman Khawaja and David Warner almost saw through the morning session before Smith and Labuschagne put on 102 runs for the third wicket and set up Australia nicely. It was Head’s belligerent 73-ball 77 though that propelled Australia past the 300-run mark well before the second new ball was to be taken as Head and Smith took 104 balls to add the next hundred runs. By the time Head was stumped beaten by a wide Root off-break, Australia were scoring at 4.2 runs per over.
It will be argued that Australia scored 73, 117 and 149 runs in three sessions out of their own gumption but England too were horribly off the mark. They didn't have anyone of real pace on this surface, edges were put down in the slip cordon, dismissals were reversed and even Root, clearly, could have been well-served with a specialist spinner bowling in tandem with him. More damning was the number of no-balls — 12 — England conceded in trying to get some pace off the deck.
{{/usCountry}}It will be argued that Australia scored 73, 117 and 149 runs in three sessions out of their own gumption but England too were horribly off the mark. They didn't have anyone of real pace on this surface, edges were put down in the slip cordon, dismissals were reversed and even Root, clearly, could have been well-served with a specialist spinner bowling in tandem with him. More damning was the number of no-balls — 12 — England conceded in trying to get some pace off the deck.
{{/usCountry}}In hindsight, the declaration at Edgbaston probably wasn’t Stokes’s finest moment as a tactician. But opting to bowl at Lord’s in tailormade seaming conditions was a no-brainer. The Dukes ball seamed, swung and held up better than in the last Ashes, but England didn’t wield the control required to make scoring difficult. Josh Tongue removed Khawaja and Warner either side of lunch but was expensive throughout. James Anderson was a shadow of himself, and neither Stuart Broad nor Ollie Robinson were probing enough. On a day Australia were supposed to be put through an inquisition, England found themselves woefully wanting.
Australia’s progress looked never in doubt though. Under a thick cloud cover with the floodlights switched on, Warner and Khawaja took contrasting paths to negate the opening spells from Anderson and Broad. Khawaja was typically orthodox in conditions that demanded respect, leaving deliveries while watching Warner clobber his way to a gritty fifty. Both were dropped in the slips, Root failing to hold on to a difficult chance off Khawaja and Ollie Pope making a mess of a waist-high edge from Warner. It only emboldened Warner as he tried to walk across the stumps, get to the pitch of the ball and swing through the line. Some connected, some didn’t, but Warner was not ready to be shackled.
With runs coming at a fair trickle, Khawaja was cautiously leaving balls outside his off-stump, and understandably so as he would have wanted to bat Australia to a wicketless session. At one point, Australia had left 30 deliveries, higher than England's total during their entire first innings at Edgbaston (28). But the 31st leave proved to be costly as Khawaja shouldered arms to a delivery from Tongue that nipped back and took off-stump. Warner’s dismissal looked more comprehensive with Tongue beating his drive and almost cutting him into half by making the ball jack back sharply and clatter into his stumps.
Coming out to a chorus of boos but at a comfortable position of 96/2, Smith pulled Tongue for a boundary before crunching Broad through extra cover for consecutive fours. Broad almost exacted revenge when he bowled a peach of a wobble-seam delivery that seemed to nick Smith’s bat on its way to Bairstow. Ecstatic appeals from England, and almost the entire Lord’s arena, were promptly upheld, but Smith’s swift review showed daylight between bat and ball.
Smith and Labuschagne stuck to the cause, playing out the difficult balls and slowly getting into gear. Labuschagne had set the tempo after hitting three fours off one Broad over before carting Stokes for back-to-back boundaries. Twice Labuschagne got a reprieve, first offering no shot to a ball that struck him well over off-stump, and then due to a bat-pad, both off Broad.
By then, Smith’s idiosyncrasies had kicked in as he weaved his way in and out of the bowlers’ crosshairs while finding boundaries almost at will. With the century partnership for the third wicket coming in 144 balls, Australia looked well set to double down on England but Robinson broke that stand with an angled delivery that Labuschagne tickled to Bairstow. England thought they had their breakthrough. But then Head turned the game on its head.