Live Report: England vs Australia, 2nd Test, Lord's

The England has gone past 150 and the century stand with Stuart Broad came up off 93 deliveries. The second new ball is available in 10 overs. Australia haven't gone back to any spin, and that moment has probably passed. Cameron Green sent down two good overs. Incredible scenes.

A spokesperson has responded to the scenes at lunchtime

"Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test.

"It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area."

And the MCC have responded:

“The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special. After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of Members.

“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian Team and will deal with any Member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes. It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session."

This is epic stuff playing now as Stokes and Broad take the runs required down into double figures. We've not seen Mitchell Starc bowl since lunch. A few yorkers might be handy right now? And there's been no further spin in this innings

We are back in the middle. Don't look away, anything could happen. Ben Stokes has already cleared the ropes again and been dropped by Steven Smith at deep square leg. Plenty of verbals also flying around.

Has lunch come at a good time or not? Gives everyone some time to take stock, at least. Plenty of words between Stuart Broad and David Warner as the players walked off. The series has been played in good spirits until now. Will that change?

A angry Ben Stokes as charged to an astonishing century by taking Cameron Green for three consecutive sixes over the leg side. Lord's has seen some incredible scenes over the years, but this is something else.

What a few minutes we are having at Lord's. "Shame old Aussies, always cheating," ringing around the ground. Ben Stokes is tonking boundaries. This one will run-and-run.

Matt Roller has been watching closely: "Broad is absolutely rattled. Accentuated tapping his bat in at both ends, lots of words exchanged with anyone who will listen."

Ok, this will be massive. Jonny Bairstow has been stumped in what will be one of most replayed and talked about moments of the Ashes. He ducked a bouncer and then, having tapped his back foot, walked out of the crease as Alex Carey under-armed the ball at the stumps and Bairstow was out of his ground. The Australians appealed, it was checked by the third umpire and ruled out. Massive boos ringing around Lord's.

Here are the Laws when it comes to dead ball (20.1.2 seems the key one in this case):

20.1 Ball is dead
20.1.1 The ball becomes dead when
20.1.1.1 it is finally settled in the hands of the wicket-keeper or of the bowler.
20.1.1.2 a boundary is scored. See Law 19.7 (Runs scored from boundaries).
20.1.1.3 a batter is dismissed. The ball will be deemed to be dead from the instant of the incident causing the dismissal.
20.1.1.4 whether played or not it becomes trapped between the bat and person of a batter or between items of his/her clothing or equipment.
20.1.1.5 whether played or not it lodges in the clothing or equipment of a batter or the clothing of an umpire.
20.1.1.6 under either of Laws 24.4 (Player returning without permission) or 28.2 (Fielding the ball) there is an offence resulting in an award of Penalty runs. The ball shall not count as one of the over.
20.1.1.7 there is contravention of Law 28.3 (Protective helmets belonging to the fielding side).
20.1.1.8 the match is concluded in any of the ways stated in Law 12.9 (Conclusion of match).
20.1.2 The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.

20.2 Ball finally settled
Whether the ball is finally settled or not is a matter for the umpire alone to decide.

Shortly after drinks and Josh Hazlewood has settled Australia with a huge wicket, removing Ben Duckett from top-edge that was superbly grabbed by Alex Carey, one-handed above his head. Carey is having an outstanding series and his glovework has already pulled off some pivotal moments. It was a fine game for Duckett, although he'll ponder two near-misses to make a match-defining score.

This pair continue to chip away steadily at the required runs. Australia won't be too concerned yet given that Stuart Broad is carded at No. 8, but they are being made to work this. And that's drinks

Don't mention the H-word. Ben Stokes has just got to his half-century, the first time he has reached the mark since the Old Trafford Test against South Africa last year when he played his best innings as captain. Australia are persisting with a short-ball plan although it's not as extreme as England's - they have not entirely given up on the outside edge.

Ben Stokes and Ben Duckett have got through the early exchanges with Stokes playing a couple of especially nice strokes, although he needed the DRS on 40 when Ahsan Raza (who has had seven of the 13 decisions reviewed from him overturned) gave him lbw to a Mitchell Starc yorker but there was a thick inside edge. It left Stokes hobbling even more than he was before. The century stand was brought up by a Stokes edge along the ground down to deep third.

England's sustained short ball plan created much debate yesterday with, for periods, the game grinding to a halt although in the end it brought 8 for 92.

Michael Holding, who knew a thing or two about bowling short, has had his say on it overnight - and there's one great line amongst his response.

"I can see both sides of the argument," he told the Indian Express. "Yes, it works but it can also be a bit boring. But essentially what they are doing is trying to find a way to win a Test match. As far as I am concerned it’s legal and not against the spirit of the game, I don’t have any foibles with it. Don’t interfere with more rule changes.

“And by the way, at no stage in my West Indies career, did we bowl bouncers for hours like this. At one point in this Lord’s Test, 98% of the bowling was short-pitched. We never did that. The hypocrisy of it stands out. When West Indies were bowling with four fast bowlers, and bouncing out the batsmen, the cricketing world was up in arms. You think there is going to be any real uproar about this tactic now? I doubt it. It’s England and Australia playing; not the West Indies.”

Then, when asked if he thought the tactic is intimidatory, he added: “What? With 70mph-plus mickey mouse pace bowling like England did? No way it’s intimidatory!”

Talk around Mitchell Starc's catch last night continues to rumble, although it's all pretty clear cut.

Fraser Stewart, head of cricket at MCC, has explained it further on the BBC this morning.

"It was pretty clear. Marais Erasmus only needed one look at it. A catch is not just a quick moment in time, it's a passage of play from when the fielder first touches the ball to when they have complete control over the ball and their own movement.

"In Starc's case yesterday, he was diving, he took the ball very cleanly but as he dived, he had his palm facing down and the ball quite clearly scraped along the ground. The ball clearly touched the ground, so the only question is: did he have control of his movement by then? And the fact that he was still sliding and diving suggests that he quite clearly didn't."

We are expecting confirmation either today or tomorrow that Nathan Lyon is out of the tour. That will mean an opportunity for Todd Murphy, who made an impressive start to his career in India.

Lyon is confident that Murphy is ready to step in.

"I sat with Todd in the last session there and spoke about spin bowling as we do. I have a lot of confidence in Todd," he said. "He is a great kid. He is willing to learn along the way. His stock ball is good enough in international cricket. We have seen that in India...it will be a different challenge with the England batter.

"If they do come at him, it provides Todd with a decent challenge. But a chance to leave his footmarks here in England. It is a big Ashes series, he is excited by the opportunity.

"I have told him my phone is always on, it doesn't matter if I am sitting in the changeroom with him or I am sitting at home watching it in bed."

Good morning, welcome to the final day at Lord's. What does it have in store for us?

After bringing up his second half-century of the Test, Ben Duckett looks to have given it away to a flapped catch to fine leg once again ... but he's most of the way back into the pavilion before the dismissal is overturned in sensational fashion!

First up, it's a well-directed short ball from Cameron Green, one that gets large on Duckett as he hops back and across as he attempts an uppercut through deep third. Somehow, the ball deflects off the back of his bat and flies quickly to a very alert Mitchell Starc at fine leg, who slides into the chance, grabs it with ease, and celebrates with a shake of his fist.

But no! After some word on the field that the umpires are checking for a no-ball, a whoop from the Australians confirms that Green's foot is behind the line. But the issue is the status of the ball after the catch is taken. Starc slides along the turf, with the ball deep in his palm but clearly touching the grass, and according to Law 33.3, that's enough to rule it out:

It's the control of his/her movement that's at issue here. Starc had given his team-mates a very clear raise of the finger to indicate he was confident it was out, but the third umpire, Marais Erasmus, wasn't so convinced. Huge let-off... is it enough to save England's bacon? On the balance of the close-of-play scoreline, 114 for 4, probably not...

England are folding against some top-quality fast bowling. Joe Root was worked over by Pat Cummins then edged to slip and Harry Brook got a delivery to match the one Cummins bowled to Root at Old Trafford 2019, nipping away to clip off stump. Australia are surging and there's a chance they could wrap this up tonight. England have a long tail.

The question before the series was, can England do it against this Australia attack? Not when they are bowling like this

Mitchell Starc has got it going. The ball to dismiss Ollie Pope needs a content warning against it. After the yorker from Pat Cummins at Edgbaston it's the second beauty Pope has received this series.

Certainly not the ideal start to the chase for England with Zak Crawley caught down the leg side against Mitchell Starc. He nearly had a second, too, but the ball which saw Ben Duckett given lbw had actually swung too much. It was a magnificent delivery and very encouraging for Starc to be getting that early movement. He is having a big impact on his return to the side.

Let's take stock. That final-wicket drama with Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon added 15 runs. Could they decide the game? You never know. Australia's last eight wickets fell for 88 against England sustained short-ball plan, one of the most sustained ever seen. You have to say it worked. We are now into the final act of this game: England need 371 to level the series in four sessions. Don't think the draw is on the table here. Australia clear favourites and you'd imagine there will be a fair amount of short bowling.

Just on England's approach today: we've logged 86% of deliveries on the fourth day bowled either short or short of a length. In some places it's even higher than that.

We are seeing one of the more extraordinary periods of Test cricket here...but Australia's lead continues to edge upwards as Mitchell Starc finds the boundary.

Mitchell Starc thought the innings was done when Josh Hazlewood fell to Ben Stokes (in the 12th over of his spell) but Nathan Lyon hopped down the Lord's steps and hobbled to the middle. He played his first ball nicely, a pull off the hip to deep square leg, but couldn't run the was able to evade the final delivery of the over. Is it worthwhile him being out there? Suggests he's done for the series.

Pat Cummins the latest to fall to the short ball, then we get a shot of Nathan Lyon hobbling down the steps inside the pavilion, seemingly ready to bat at No. 11. There's no runners in international cricket.

Ollie Robinson has added another, getting Alex Carey to fend to short leg. He is now the leading wicket-taker in the series. Meanwhile, Ben Stokes has bowled a nine-over spell. Will Australia's bowlers now consider throwing the bat?

Well, would you know it, England have their fourth wicket of the day with the bouncer - Cameron Green has run out of patience and pulled Ollie Robinson to deep square leg. The game really had come to a halt, so maybe the tempo will change now, although you imagine Australia's bowlers will get a few short ones. Can England keep this chase to around 375? Remember, they chased 378 against India last year.

45 out of the 67 balls that Green faced were short, per our BBB data (67%), and a further 13 were back-of-a-length. He scored 14 off the 58 short or back-of-a-length balls he faced in total - a strike rate of 24.1.

Ben Stokes has bowled himself since lunch, and there's no surprise that it's been consistently short. He insisted the knee was feeling pretty good before the match although only sent down three overs in the first innings. The game isn't actually moving very far at the moment, but Australia won't mind, there's still a lot of time left. Cameron Green and Alex Carey are focusing on getting through this phase and a likely dart with the second new ball from England. They'll want a 400-run lead if possible.

It's also interesting to note, while all these short balls are going down, what the umpires judge to be the two bouncers for the over. It feels a fairly liberal interpretation.

Even James Anderson was flinging down bouncers by the end of the session. England have just about kept themselves in the contest with those three quick wickets but Australia's lead is now over 300. Cameron Green and Alex Carey had some uncomfortable moments heading into lunch.

Here's the length numbers from the session as we have recorded them.

Well, that earlier post about how Australia have played the short ball nicely hasn't dated that well. Travis Head has followed Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith back to the sheds. The delivery to Head was a superbly-directed delivery at the chest from Stuart Broad when was then brilliantly held at short leg by Joe Root, standing in for Ollie Pope under the helmet. With that catch, Joe Root has become England's most prolific fielder.

Is this the end of the pitched-up delivery?

Just in case you needed a reminder of what England did chasing targets last summer:

277 vs New Zealand, Lord's
299 vs New Zealand, Trent Bridge
296 vs New Zealand, Leeds
378 vs India, Edgbaston

Josh Tongue right now...that's three in three for him against Steven Smith this season. It came the ball after James Anderson had dropped Travis Head first ball at backward point.

Usman Khawaja has ticked to 300 runs for the series. And he's done it at his own pace...but now he's been caught at long leg hooking Stuart Broad. Guess you could say the short-ball plan has worked.

Meanwhile, England are getting frustrated with Spider-cam.

It's been pretty comfortable progress for Australia so far today with both Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith looking in their 'zones'. They each played some very pleasing drives off James Anderson - you have to start to wonder how much more the England great has in him.

Now Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue are trying a short-pitched approach to both batters but, in a revolutionary tactic which surely won't work, they are happy to duck underneath most of them. Will never catch on.

UPDATE: Steve Smith has just ended up flat on his back trying to swat away a short ball.

**

England hope that Moeen Ali’s spinning finger has healed sufficiently for him to play a full part in the third Ashes Test at Headingley, which starts on Thursday.

Moeen split the skin on the top knuckle of his spinning finger during the first Test at Edgbaston, his first red-ball appearance in 21 months after Jack Leach’s lower-back stress fracture prompted England to send him an SOS call. He returned figures of 3 for 204 in 47 overs.

His omission for the second Test at Lord’s owed in part to a green pitch at a venue that rarely suits spinner, but Ben Stokes admitted: “It would have been a completely different conversation if Mo hadn’t had his finger issue that he did last week.”

Along with Rehan Ahmed, who was added to the squad for the second Test as cover, Moeen bowled on a practice strip on the edge of the square on each of the first three days of the Test, watched closely by England’s spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen him bowl,” Patel said.

“Fingers crossed that in the next couple of days, he gets to rest it and he gets to Headingley and he’s ready to go,” Patel said. “It was pretty disgusting at the end of the Test… we’ve tried to look after it as much as we can. It’s looking in really good shape; it’s healed really, really well.”

Moeen’s injury owed to the prouder seam on the red Dukes ball than the white Kookaburra used in limited-overs cricket, as well as the sharp spike in his workload. “Mo hasn’t bowled 30 overs [in a day] in a while and that was always going to be part of the risk of bringing him in,” Patel said.

“But we knew that and he knew that – and he still said yes, and we still asked him. Is there a way to look after your fingers? Just bowl. It’s probably the only way to do it: bowl regularly. He bowls four overs a game so he’s probably not used to it and he hasn’t bowled with a Dukes for two years.”

Josh Tongue has bowled well in this Test, but England's attack has looked pretty one-dimensional. They desperately need to inject Mark Wood's pace and will hope, having had another week, that he will be ready for Headingley.

On the subject of England's dwindling pace stocks, there appeared to be more bad news last night. Olly Stone could only send down three deliveries on his return in the T20 Blast for Nottinghamshire.

Jofra Archer is a long-term absence and Saqib Mahmood has suffered another back injury. Not for the first time, England's hopes of being able to take on Australia with pace have not come together.

Morning everyone and welcome to the fourth day from Lord's. Australia in complete control at the moment and unless England strike early and often it could just be a question of how many Pat Cummins wants. It may not be a simple decision, he will have to factor in the absence of Nathan Lyon and England do have a history of some big chases last summer - although could well have to out do themselves here. The other fascinating point is whether England would be willing to play for a draw if the target was impossible. Ben Stokes has said he doesn't do draws, but it would be a long way back in the Ashes from 2-0 down.

A day which began with the second Test evenly balanced ended with Australia holding a firm grip on this contest, and perhaps with it the Ashes. England folded during the morning session to a myriad of wild shots, conceding a lead of 91, before Usman Khawaja led a determined effort from the visitors’ top order under grey skies which made batting tricky.

By the close, which came 27 overs early due to drizzle, Australia’s lead stood at 221 and even for a team that began this Bazball era with a series of big run chases it shaped as a daunting prospect to avoid going 2-0 down.

It was always going to happen, right? Stuart Broad brought out another celebrappeal and Ben Stokes again to declined to review for an lbw against Marnus Labuschagne...and this time it was three reds. Brendon McCullum signaled from the dressing room after the replay and Broad was not amused. In Stokes' defence, his two calls before tea were spot on.

Australia's lead is now grown over 200. But, wait, Labuschagne has not swatted a wide long hop from James Anderson to backward point.

Usman Khawaja is already shaping as a defining player in the series. After his Player-of-the-Match double at Edgbaston he has brought up another half-century with a delightful straight drive. And, as Alex Malcolm has noted on commentary, even the time and balls he soaked up in the first innings was vital in tough conditions. There are many aspects of Australia's performance in this game which shows the contrast with England - and how they are willing to play the game at their own tempo - but none more so that Khawaja's batting.

These are the highest successful run chases at Lord's

And these are the highest fourth-innings totals, which are sometimes more relevant.

A very Stuart Broad end to that session...

31.5 Broad to Labuschagne, no run. Full, wide tempter, Labuschagne chases the drive and England all go up... not given! That was a borderline celebrappeal from Broad, but after a group discussion Stokes won't review. Think Chris Gaffaney has got that spot on - there was a sound but most likely bat on ground

31.6 Broad to Labuschagne, 1 run Another huge lbw appeal this time, Gaffaney shakes his head... Stokes opts not to review again, and Labuschagne can walk off unscathed! Hooping in-ducker from Broad, who was once again convinced (although when isn't he?) Ball-tracking on the replay shows it would have missed leg stump. And after all that excitement, it's time for a cup of tea

This feels like a moment: James Anderson, who turns 41 in exactly one month and has two wickets in 65 overs in this series, is bowling with the keeper up. Anderson used his Telegraph column to criticise the Edgbaston pitch after the first Test - he said it was "kryponite" to him and that if similar pitches were rolled out for the rest of the series, he would be "done" - but conditions have been in his favour this afternoon.

In fact, England have had the better of the atmospherics throughout this Test - and, with the exception of those 22 balls on the third afternoon in Birmingham, the series. Here, they have bowled for 30 overs in murky, gloomy cloud cover and under the floodlights, but have struggled to create chances. And while Anderson has been economical in this Test, he has only rarely gone past the outside edge.

With Mark Wood likely to be unleashed at Headingley, one of England's seamers will almost certainly make way after this Test. Are we heading towards the point where Anderson's place is under real threat?

Josh Tongue has had an excellent Test match and he's removed David Warner for the second time in the game. As in the first innings it was around the wicket with a delivery which nipped back, but this time he was lbw rather than bowled. Warner was very quick to signal for a view but the replays showed it was three reads. Still, Warner had soaked up valuable time against the new ball in testing conditions. Overall, it was his slowest 20+ in Test cricket. Not the sort of record England are setting at the moment.

This is the first time since 2018 that Australia have had two fifty-plus opening stands in a Test. On that occasion Usman Khawaja was part of it as well, alongside Aaron Finch in Dubai. It also makes it three in a row for Khawaja and David Warner which is an achievement not to underestimated. Especially in this game, they have batted in the tough conditions of the game.

During this innings, Usman Khawaja has gone past 600 balls faced in the series (635 at the time of writing this sentence). The most by an England batter is 226 by Joe Root. The effect is two-fold. Obviously it means he's batting a lot of time which is helping Australia, but it's also putting miles in the legs of England's bowlers. It was something Pat Cummins touched on before the game.

"I've played a lot of Tests back-to-back and you certainly feel much fresher when in the first Test match, you've had a big gap in between both innings or you only bowled 30 as opposed to 40, 50," he said. "Our number one goal when we go out there is to score runs and it doesn't matter how long it takes."

England have bowled on every day of this series, albeit just four overs on the first at Edgbaston.

It's been hard work for David Warner so far. A reminder he's carry some finger and hand problems which he spoke about after the first innings. On commentary, Kevin Pietersen has noted how Warner is moving much more back and across which is a change from earlier this and Edgbaston. This is also the sort of innings that shows the fine margins at play. There's many a delivery he could have nicked, but (so far) unlike 2019 they are beating the edge.

Australia could not have asked for a better morning session. They rattled through a frenetic England batting order then Usman Khawaja and David Warner survived a testing period up to lunch. The ball was certainly nipping around under the clouds, but the 103-run lead gives them a significant cushion. Stuart Broad tried to get the crowd going but the impact of his arm-waving was rather less effective than at Edgbaston.

Australia have been gift-wrapped a 91-run lead with England flaying themselves into a hole on the third morning. Only Ben Stokes, and latterly Josh Tongue, can say he did not have a big hand in his dismissal. Whatever they say about Bazball, it was a pretty dismal display from where they were yesterday with Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope going nicely.

Jonny Bairstow bunted to mid-on while Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad donated their wickets to Travis Head. The last six wickets fell for 47 runs.

It's not game over, and England do love a chase, but Australia only have to bat reasonably well second time around to put this beyond them. The only glimmer for the home side is, perhaps, that it's overcast and feels a good bowling day. But that was also the case on the first morning.

A reminder they were 188 for 1 yesterday evening and Nathan Lyon had just limped off the field. The second new ball is available in six overs, if Australia need it. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have been superb today. Starc's spell was 5-0-13-2.

Harry Brook should have gone last night on 25 when Marnus Labuschagne shelled him at square leg. He was able to reach fifty this morning without rarely looking secure but didn't go any further when he swiped a Mitchell Starc short ball into the off side. England will defend their tactics to the hilt, but it's hard to be convinced that they have played this correctly with Australia a specialist bowler down. With a long tail they are in danger of conceding a significant lead.

The batting averages of what is to follow this pair:

Stuart Broad: 18.23
Ollie Robinson: 14.04
Josh Tongue: 12.95 (first-class cricket)
James Anderson: 9.19

Second ball of the day and big things are already happening. Mitchell Starc squares up Ben Stokes and the outside edge his grab by Cameron Green at around fourth slip. It's a manner that Stokes has fallen before, looking to perhaps play too much to the leg side. That feels like a massive shift in the game, given that Stuart Broad is in at No. 8. It's a reminder, too, of the value that Starc brings. The clouds have returned in the last half an hour.

It wasn't one of the hardest catches Green has taken, but it was still travelling very quickly and he made it look regulation. Here's a reminder of some of the blinders he has already taken in Test cricket.

Australia appear likely to be without Nathan Lyon for the remainder of the Ashes series following the calf injury he sustained on the second day at Lord’s.

Lyon arrived at the ground on Friday with a pair of crutches and his calf heavily strapped. He took part in the team huddle, which involved every member of the playing group and support staff, before heading back to the pavilion with Ben Stokes offering a consoling pat on the back.

With the remaining three Tests taking place over the next four weeks it would seem very unlikely that Lyon will have time to recover. He currently sits on 496 Test wickets.

While it will be a major loss for Australia they have a very able, if inexperienced, replacement in Todd Murphy who impressed in his debut series in India earlier this year. He claimed seven wickets on debut in Nagpur and consistently troubled Virat Kohli.

There are many similarities between Murphy and Lyon with the pair having worked closely since they first linked up during the Sheffield Shield Covid bubble in 2020-21.

“He has been bowling beautifully in the nets and bowled really well in India when he got his opportunity as well,” Steve Smith said. "I'd be confident if he came in he'd do a terrific job for us, but fingers crossed Nathan's alright."

Speaking to AAP last week, Lyon’s mentor John Davison gave Murphy a huge vote of confidence.

"Todd Murphy is well ahead of the game in terms of his development," he said. "If something happened to Nathan I think Todd could come in. Don't expect him to do what Nathan does straight away, but if he had the same opportunities, then I am pretty confident he would be able to get there. Murph is pretty mature in terms of his bowling for someone his age."

A collapse of 34 for 3 in 7.3 overs saw England cede control of the first innings of this second Test. Having dismissed Australia for 416, taking the final five wickets for the addition of just 65 runs, England conspired amongst themselves to turn 188 for 1 into 222 for 4.

This was far from terminal. Stumps arrived with no further losses, Harry Brook unbeaten on 45 and Ben Stokes playing the part of the adult in the room with a measured 17 off 57. Australia’s lead is now just 138.

The unnecessary cascade was layered. Steve Smith had “only” made it to 110 for his 32nd Test hundred, four years after a bumper double on this very ground. Midway through the 37th over of England’s response, Nathan Lyon pulled up with a calf injury that will be assessed overnight but almost certainly rules him out of bowling in the rest of this match. And to have lost a dynamic trio of Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and Joe Root, all to the hook shot, felt deeply unnecessary from England, especially with their elongated tail.

It's Gnasher stepping in for Vish while he starts to write up.

Joe Root's luck has run out, brilliantly caught by Steven Smith at deep backward square as he took on a Mitchell Starc short ball. It's hard to really know what to make of England's approach in the last hour, except to say they don't seem willing to back down. Australia won't be able to believe their fortune that the short-ball plan has brought three key top-order wickets. Remember, too, that England have a long tail with Stuart Broad at No. 8.

This has been... not the best from England. Nathan Lyon is off the field, runs were coming easily, and they've lost two set batters for 20 runs in 4.1 overs.

Only Ollie Pope will tell you why he tried to take out Old Father Time with a front-on hook shot. And Ben Duckett, a hundred and plenty there for the taking, fluffed a pull one too many times and was well taken by David Warner. All a bit needless, all a bit too chaotic. Unnecessary confidence sent Australia's way considering their champion bowler has had to be helped off the field.

It's been entertaining, yeah. But judging by most of the reactions on social media, England fans aren't really enjoying this.

We could have just had a huge moment in this match – and series.

Glenn McGrath, 2005 anyone? Chasing a ball towards the rope, Nathan Lyon pulled up and was in immediate discomfort. He needed help to walk around the boundary to the pavilion. It would be a bitter twist if Lyon had picked up a significant injury in this, his 100th consecutive Test. Much had been made of his endurance in reaching that landmark this week. Of more immediate concern for Australia is that it could leave them a frontline bowler down where he has been the most effective at stemming England’s scoring rate. If this does prove a significant problem for Lyon it brings Todd Murphy into line for a place. As far as this game’s concerned, though, it might need Steven Smith, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne to unfurl their varieties of spin.

Now then, how big is this...

Nathan Lyon has pulled up and is currently limping around the field on the other side of the boundary and back to the dressing room with the help of Australia's team physio. He seems to have picked up an issue with his right leg after running in from the square leg fence after Ben Duckett swiped a pull in the air when on 86. It was too far away from Lyon to attempt a catch, but he immediately felt something go as he got within 10 yards of the ball. He sat down before eventually moving beyond the sponge where he was tended to by the physio. It's forced a change in the bowling with Mitchell Starc returning at the Nursery End.

Roll up, roll up - hit us up if you've got any queries about Day 2 at Lord's, and we will endeavour to use them as jumping-off points without actually answering them!

Some thoughts from Andrew McGlashan at the tea break:

England’s day so far. Five wickets before lunch and now a very solid and jaunty base to their first innings reply. There are a couple of eye-catching economy rates among Australia’s bowlers with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood going at over sevens. Starc’s will likely provoke some debate after he was preferred to Scott Boland. However, we need to see how the game develops before rushing to any judgement. Starc is rarely going to be a thrifty bowler and has spoken on this tour of not trying to reinvent himself as a line-and-length operator as he did in 2019 when he played a single Test. Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon has bowled very nicely and is again shaping as a major player in how the game will develop. He slid one past Zak Crawley’s pads to have him stumped, although the highlight of the dismissal was Alex Carey’s swift glovework. That’s four stumpings in the series already for him and the way England play he could well add to that tally.

We pretty much know what we're going to get with Mitchell Starc, though it was fascinating that his weakness - regular boundary balls - could have also been his strength coming into this fixture. England were guilty of going a little too hard in the third innings of Edgbaston, but they've been very measured here. Every slight misstep from the left-armer has been pounced on by the top three. Especially Pope, who rattled off a hat-trick of boundaries with varying degrees of control: an inside edge, a whip to square leg then a note-perfect drive through the covers. Duckett then used his pace to time off his toes through midwicket to move to a sold half-century - his first against Australia.

One of the cool things about Steve Smith scoring runs deep into his career is the various nuggets he picks up. Test century number 32 has seen him complete a few more sidequests. Read all about them.

So Crawley has spent the last two weeks practising the reverse paddle in the nets. He’s not a natural sweeper because of his height and has generally aimed to strike spinners down the ground.

Brendon McCullum admonished him for playing a regulation sweep against South Africa last summer and getting out LBW to Keshav Maharaj. The head coach doesn’t mind attacking options, but provided they are ones you actually came into the game with and practised beforehand.

Well, Crawley now has and… almost got out playing it first time. On 34, he reworked his grup and ended up hitting firmly through the hands of Steve Smith, who had shuffled wider at first slip to intercept after picking up the cues from the batter. Crawley's still going for his shots, mind and hit a sumptuous straight drive off Hazlewood in the next over that might rank as the shot of the match so far.

England were 21/0 after 7 overs, but have since motored to 54/0 after 11 overs.

Granted, four of those first seven were in that awkward mini-session before lunch. But Ben Duckett no longer looks as tentative, showing as much when he drove Josh Hazlewood's first ball to the cover boundary. It wasn't quite timed, but the left-hander looks like he's decided to park the tentative nurdles outside off for the moment. The four in the cordon are waiting for him to mess that up.

Oh would you look at that - here comes Nathan Lyon from the Nursery Ground End...

Ollie Pope is not only fit to bat, but will be able to come in at his usual No.3 spot. Whether he does or not is another matter.

Meanwhile, some more Smith-related housekeeping for your history books

Is "survive" harsh? Given all the overnight chat on England falling apart, this could have been ripe for a couple of dismissals. Alas, barring a big LBW shout against Zak Crawley - correctly given not out on the field and wisely ignored for an onfield review - and an edge that did not carry as Ben Duckett flirted outside off stump, it has been pretty steady from these two.

Australia were perhaps not as intense as they could have been, but it's only four overs. Big middle session to come...

Mitchell Starc getting a bit of swing with the new ball from the Pavilion End. Pat Cummins about to open up from the Nursery End. Both with enticing green down the ground to bring those four slips into play, along with the deep point carried over from Edgbaston.

All told, England will be happy with that. Considering Smith was well set coming into the morning session, to have taken the final seven wickets for 100 is good going. Amusingly, Australia have managed to score at four an over without really taking the kind of risks England do to achieve that.

Curious to see how England approach their first innings here, particularly these 20 or so minutes. The sun has just popped out and the batters will be glad for a go on a pitch that has not really done too much. Then again, Australia's attack will be coming at them about 6mph quicker on average.

As they say, strap yourself in...

So in yesterday's press conference, Josh Tongue was asked if he had bowled a better ball than the one that castled David Warner: moving in late, skidding off the surface and decapitating the top of leg stump.

He had an answer: no.

He was talking about an LBW at New Road in the County Championship while playing for Worcestershire versus Sussex. No doubt this dismissal of Smith here at Lord's in his first Ashes Test will trump it through clout alone

Time to declare, no?

Steve Smith goes to a fine gully catch from Ben Duckett. It's the second time he's been dismissed by Josh Tongue this summer.

We could have probably called it yesterday, but Steve Smith has his 32nd Test hundred. It's his second at this ground after a bumper 215 back here in 2015. If there was more support down the line, he'd probably beat that given how tame things look out there.

He walked at Stuart Broad at the end of the 91st over, hoping for one at the pads that never came. Broad instead opting to drag Smith wider with one that nipped away off the surface. The next over, James Anderson's outswinging yorker was dug out to "oooos" from the crowd. Another fully delivery and - bang - Smith crunches through the covers for his 14th boundary taking him to three figures. Marks the milestone with a very efficient raise of bat and helmet to all four corners, before capping off the celebrations with a boundary through midwicket.

Despite his heroics at Edgbaston, Pat Cummins has demoted himself to No. 9 in this match. But if his batting revival can be sustained it will be a huge positive for Australia. Ahead of the Test, he spoke about being able to put more time into it over the last few months.

"I feel like the last six months I've tried to do a lot of work. I felt really good last summer but only got one or two hits. Having a couple of months at home I could spent a bit more time [on it]. Trent Woodhill, I spent a lot of sessions with him just grooving it through April, May. Over the last couple of years, I've found switching between formats is quite hard. I feel like my T20 batting has gotten a lot better but probably at the detriment to my Test match rhythms at time. Whereas through 2017, 2018 I felt ok in Test cricket but couldn't really hit it off the square. Hopefully I'm somewhere where it's a bit more of a balance between the two."

Is this a microcosm of how the rest of the Australia innings will play out? Plenty of runs with the risk of the odd wicket at the other end - Broad gets Carey LBW on review before Mitchell Starc swats him through midwicket first ball - while Steve Smith marches merrily at his own pace to Test century number 32?

The players are on their way out to the middle as the Lord's outfield gets the late rope treatment to remove any surface water.

Joe Root spoke to Sky this morning about the day's play and had the following to say for himself (2 for 19) and his teammates:

"It wasn’t our best day, we all know that and feel with the conditions that we had, we would have liked to be batting yesterday. When you win the toss and bowl first, that’s generally what you’d like. We must have gone past the bat 28-30 times, something like that. We did create chances early that we didn’t quite take."

Greetings from Lord's! The skies are as overcast as yesterday. We're about half an hour away from seeing if England bowl as profligately.

Were they that bad? Well, yeah. Though maybe not as bad as Kevin Pietersen made it seem on Sky. That being said, he was not wrong. England have been too casual (by design) and the byproduct of that was seemingly a lethargic day in the field when they really needed to start dialled up to 11. Brendon McCullum doesn't really do dressing downs, and Ben Stokes raised his voice more as vice-captain than he has in the last 13 months of the big job, so you wonder how the need for greater intensity would have been relayed either last night or this morning. I suppose we are about to find out.

If you missed any of Day One's action from Lord's, here's #PoliteEnquiries to widen the gaps:

Steven Smith and Travis Head make it Australia's day at Lord’s, while Joe Root's two late wickets limited the damage somewhat for England.

Smith and Head combined to add 118 in 20 overs for the fourth wicket to leave the tourists at 339 for 5 at the close. Head flayed 77 from 73 balls before falling to Root, followed by Cameron Green for a third-ball duck, leaving Smith unbeaten on 85 and Alex Carey not out 11.

Marnus Labuschagne fell just three runs shy of a half-century after David Warner set Australia up nicely with 66 before falling to Josh Tongue, who also picked up the wicket of Usman Khawaja.

Now things look a little different. Out of nowhere Joe Root has bagged two wickets in the over. Travis Head had a big charge and ended up flat on his backside then Cameron Green had a horrid hoick and skewed to mid-off. Are Australia about to throw away their hard work. The new ball is available in five overs so England could get a couple in with it tonight

And Travis Head has overtaken Steven Smith. Who will be first to their hundred? There is about 40 minutes of play left today, so we'll lose overs.

Update: it won't be Travis Head

Travis Head has motored along and isn't far from catching Steve Smith. It is a pattern we have seen in the last 18 months, although often Head is lifting Australia out of the trouble which isn't the case today - he had a position to consolidate on. His strike-rate since the start of the 2021-22 Ashes is currently 82.04 (see the below table for some more context - Head's numbers will obviously change a bit).

There are still 14 overs until until the second new ball so at this rate Australia will be over 300 by then.

Australia are building again through Steve Smith and Travis Head. Smith has just gone to a neat fifty from 102 balls by driving Ollie Robinson wide of mid-off. There has continued to be too much loose stuff from England's seamers among the collection of good deliveries. Head has skipped along at close to a run-a-ball as is often his style. England may regret not having a frontline spinner against him.

Even with the floodlights on, bad light could be an issue in this season.

England needed a breakthrough and Ollie Robinson has delivered. Wonder what Matthew Hayden makes of that? It was a nice delivery, in the channel outside off to Marnus Labuschagne who had a nibble. He knew he'd hit but, as so often, struggled to pull himself away from the crease. Still doesn't look quite on top of his game but produced some very nice shots after he'd settle. Now, England need to build pressure which they haven't done so far today.

Get your questions in for Matt and Vish. Remember, send them over Twitter using the hashtag.

Australia are going along very nicely. Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne setting their stall out to make amends for last week. It too early to put a line through England, but an attack of five right-arm fast-medium bowlers and a part-time offspinner has a lot of work ahead of them. A long final session ahead.

This is slowly turning into England’s worst day in the field of the Bazball era. They’ve actually bowled better this session, but Marnus and Smith are away and it all looks a bit ominous right now. They’ve bowled full, but then again they always have done under Ben Stokes. They’d rather be driven than cut, which is a pretty common approach. But they’re often veering into half-volley territory. The fact they have had a decision each overturned against both these matters might be regarded as misfortune, but they were both poor decisions from the umpires. Even with that generosity from the on-field officials, they’ve still managed to lose a review.

Should they have gone in again with Broad, Anderson and Robinson? Probably not given how laboured they are starting to look. It doesn’t look like they have learned from their no-ball issues last week. They’ve already provided eight in 50 overs - as many as they managed in the 92.3 overs of Edgbaston’s second innings – with Robinson and Stokes (three each) the junkhouse leaders.

Stuart Broad has twice thought he's removed Marnus Labuschagne. The first one came when he won an lbw appeal on the field as Labuschagne shouldered arms, but replays showed it was going over the top. Then another big shout was met with a not out decision on field and England reviewed. This time there was an inside edge involved although Broad thought it was pad first (even so, it was probably outside the line).

England are in danger of losing control of the day. So far this could go down as their poorest bowling display of the Bazball era.

Despite the two wickets, England haven't been able to build much pressure. Australia are moving along at nearly four an over through a rapid start from Steven Smith, who was given caught behind against Stuart Broad but there was clear daylight, and with Marnus Labuschagne starting to find his stride without really looking secure. It feels as though England have missed their best chance to utilise conditions.

Meanwhile, a brief update on Ollie Pope from the ECB:

"Ollie Pope has hurt his right shoulder and is currently being assessed by the England medical team."

An action-packed three deliveries. Steve Smith survives with DRS.

Josh Tongue has been rewarded for giving David Warner a bit of a working over with a huge wicket for England. During a superb over from the Nursey End, which was bringing the ball back into Warner with the slope, he nearly had him chopping on before another delivery beat everything, zipping past the inside edge and over the top of the stumps. Then, with the next ball, it was a touch fuller and breached Warner's defences.

It's a gloomy afternoon as play resumes. You can clearly see the shadows from the light towers around the players. Josh Tongue, who took the wicket, and James Anderson have picked up the bowling which, as yet, there's no Stuart Broad to Marnus Labuschagne but surely it won't be far away. How Labuschagne will respond to twin dismissals at Edgbaston was one of the big pre-match talking points.

"They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I've usually played, that's why I was pretty frustrated with myself to get out that way and asked myself the question, 'why did I play at those deliveries?'," he said a few days ago

"I've come up with my own summation of what that is. Now it's if there's anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's a rarity that I'd play at those balls so it's not something I'm going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals."

***

Meanwhile, here's a quirky stat for you related to Josh Tongue. Players to make their first two Test appearances at Lord's (thanks to Sampath Bandarupalli for digging it out)

Gubby Allen - 1930/1931
Jahangir Khan - 1932/1936
Phiroze Palia - 1932/1936 (Only played two Tests in his career)
Dattaram Hindlekar - 1936/1946

Australia hold a 4-0 advantage after winning the Test at Trent Bridge with the T20Is next up. Valkerie Baynes and Firdose Moonda look back over the Test match in Ladies Who Switch