FOW: 18/1 Cook lbw b Watson 12, 26/2 Root lbw b Harris 6,
28/3 Pietersen c Haddin b Harris 2, 127/4 Trott c Khawaja b Harris 58,
England 289 for 7 (Bell 109, Bairstow 67, Smith 3-18) v Australia
It was a sweltering summer's day with the prospect that Lord's would stage one of the hottest Tests - perhaps the hottest - in its history. And in this scorching atmosphere, so warm, by Gad, that a spectator was spied wearing a knotted handkerchief in the pavilion, Ian Bell produced his third Ashes hundred in succession to try to guard against an England calamity on the first day of the second Investec Test.
But on hot days like these, strange things happen. Birds fly backwards, trees talk to each other and derided legspinners rediscover their ability to pitch it - or normally pitch it - and take joy in a skill reborn. Steve Smith, armed with noticeable spin and what was now a misleadingly cherubic style, took 3 for 12 in 22 balls as the day took an unexpected turn.
If the day was dominated by Bell, it ultimately belonged to Australia, who bookended it in style. They even have the luxury of beginning the second day with the bowlers fresh and a new ball only two overs old.
This was meant to be Bell's story. At the SCG, Trent Bridge and now Lord's, he has secured his reputation. He came to the crease at 28 for 3, with England collapsing in front of the Queen - and, for that matter, Ryan Harris - but followed Jack Hobbs (twice), Wally Hammond and Chris Broad in making hundreds in three successive Ashes Tests.
The Big Easy is variously an American movie, a Chelsea restaurant and the nickname for New Orleans. But at Lord's the Little Easy was a freckled Brummie securing his cricketing reputation. If Trent Bridge, a strikingly slow, dead surface, had been a test of his acumen, Lord's increasingly became a pleasure. His exquisite cover drives studded most of the day.
On drowsy days like these, the serenest batsman can seek to make a big Test score without causing the merest rustle of a leaf; to amass run after run with the most slumbering members, mouths agog at the heat rather than the cricket, barely taking notice; to make a major contribution without leaving the slightest indentation. Bell is that type of player: understated quality in an age of overstatement.
England needed Bell's input because Harris, a stout man bowling with aggression and intent, barging through the heat haze like a combine harvester powering through a cornfield, had three for 28 in 13 overs by tea. Like the best harvester, Harris maintained an immaculate line.
England recovered, first through Jonathan Trott's consummate half-century, then with a stand of 144 in 43 overs for the fifth wicket between Bell and Jonny Bairstow to stabilise the England innings.
Then Smith took a hand. His sixth ball turned sharply, to have Bell easily caught at first slip; Bairstow knocked back a low full toss as he was deceived in the flight; and Matt Prior misread the length of one delivered out of the front of the hand and was caught at the wicket. For Australia's captain, Michael Clarke, it was a reward for his willingness to experiment rather than just await the second new ball. He not only brought him on, with the new ball due he kept him on.
Bairstow, who hit 67, had used up his fortune earlier. His fallibility, whipping across a full-length ball, was again evident when Peter Siddle bowled him on 21, only to be reprieved when the umpire called for a TV replay and Siddle was shown to have overstepped. It took a magnified image to prove it.
The UK heat wave was designed to remind Australia of home - and they have an excellent record on this ground too, with 16 victories and six defeats in 36 Tests. As the crowd queued down from St John's Wood tube station, few expected them to make a start like they did. England, who must have sensed a bountiful batting day after winning the toss, began gingerly: Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen all departing.
The Queen was presented to both sides before play began. She does not normally linger at the cricket - horse racing is her true passion - and once somebody had tried to explain the Decision Review System, she doubtless made her excuses and left.
But she would not have had to linger overlong to be aware of the fall of England wickets. Three were dispensed with in the little matter of six overs as Australia, 1-0 down in the series, made the start they had barely dared imagine.
Clarke gave the medium pace of Shane Watson an airing after only four overs and it worked like a charm. Cook forever fights against the tendency to get his head too far over to the off side and a gentle inswing bowler, bringing the ball back down the slope, could potentially expose that. It took two balls; Cook trapped in front. The umpire, Marais Erasmus, spared the onerous TV duties he had to shoulder at Trent Bridge, considered at length before giving Cook out. Watson's spell lasted a single over.
England's refashioned opening partnership of Cook and Root, assembled after the dropping of Nick Compton, has yet to reach fifty in three attempts. This was definitely a chance wasted.
Root's decision to review Harris' lbw decision in the next over was appropriate because he could not be entirely sure if the ball had struck bat before pad. But replays suggested that Root had squeezed it - with the pad fractionally first - and Tony Hill, the third umpire, rightly found no reason to overturn umpire Kumar Dharmasena's on-field decision.
Pietersen lasted only four balls, his two runs courtesy of a thick edge against Harris backward of square. Harris had him caught at the wicket, targeting the stumps and maintaining an attacking length as one of Australia's finest, Glenn McGrath, did on his appearances at Lord's.
TV cameras showed the Long Room for the first time and revealed Pietersen giving a gentle tap to a stanchion as he passed through it, just polite enough to escape too much of a ticking-off, but inviting the question whether the stanchion was protecting KP from the members or the other way round.
Trott and Bell began as passively as possible, leaving as much as they could until the game settled. James Pattinson sampled both ends at Lord's by lunch without entirely settling to either. Siddle soon reddened in the heat. But a fourth wicket at 120 kept the initiative with Australia as Harris led Trott into an uncontrolled pull and Usman Khawaja held the catch at deep square.
Bell did not hit a single boundary down the ground in his hundred at Trent Bridge. He again prospered square of the wicket here. But when he did go down the ground, handsomely so, against Siddle, it illustrated that this Lord's pitch was far more amenable to good cricket than its predecessor. "It will turn, too," the experts said. And then, by Gad, Steven Smith proved it.
It was a sweltering summer's day with the prospect that Lord's would stage one of the hottest Tests - perhaps the hottest - in its history.
On drowsy days like these, the serenest batsman can seek to make a big Test score without causing the merest rustle of a leaf; to amass run after run with the most slumbering members, mouths agog at the heat rather than the cricket, barely taking notice; to make a major contribution without leaving the slightest indentation.
Ian Bell is that type of player: understated in an age of overstatement. After his Man-of-the-Match award and century at Trent Bridge, he was 68 not out at tea on the first day of the second Investec Test.
He was in mint form and England needed it because Ryan Harris, a stout man bowling with aggression and intent, barging through the heat haze like a combine harvester powering through a cornfield, had 3 for 28 in 13 overs by the interval. Like the best harvester, Harris' line was immaculate.
If Trent Bridge, a strikingly slow, dead surface, was a test of Bell's acumen, Lord's was a pleasure. The Big Easy is variously an American movie, a Chelsea restaurant and or a reference to New Orleans. But the Little Easy was a freckled Brummie rediscovering his best form at precisely the right time.
As for Jonny Bairstow, he was still there at tea, on 28, but he was distinctly fortunate. He had made 21 from 53 balls when Peter Siddle bowled him - Bairstow again whipping across a full-length ball - only to be reprieved when the umpire requested a TV replay and Siddle was shown to have overstepped. It took a magnified image to prove it.
The UK heat wave was designed to remind Australia of home - and they have an excellent record, too, on this ground with 16 victories and six defeats in 36 Tests.
But as the crowd queued down from St John's Wood tube station, few expected them to make a start like they did. There was only a hint of early movement but England, who must have sensed a bountiful batting day after winning the toss, began gingerly: Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen all departing.
The Queen was presented to both sides before play began. She does not normally linger at the cricket - horse racing is her true passion - and once somebody had tried to explain the Decision Review System, she doubtless made her excuses and left.
But she would not have had to linger overlong to be aware of the fall of early England wickets. Three were dispensed within the little matter of six overs as Australia, 1-0 down in the series, made the start they had barely dared imagine.
Michael Clarke can bask in one of the captaincy decisions of the series so far. He withdrew James Pattinson after only two overs and it was not entirely apparent whether the appearance of Shane Watson's medium pace was a tactical manoeuvre intended to expose Cook or just an over to assist a change of ends.
As a tactical gambit, it had persuasive points in its favour. Cook forever fights against the tendency to get his head too far over to the leg side and a gentle inswing bowler, bringing the ball back down the slope, could potentially expose that to the full. Watson slid his first ball across Cook, the next swung back and Cook was trapped in front.
The umpire, Marais Erasmus, spared the onerous TV duties he had to withstand at Trent Bridge, considered at length before giving Cook out. England's captain, shrewdly, was not drawn by the delay into wasting an appeal. As for Watson, his glorious opening spell lasted a single over.
England's refashioned opening partnership of Cook and Root, assembled after the dropping of Nick Compton, has yet to reach fifty in three attempts. This was definitely a chance wasted.
If Watson briefly brought a placid feel to one end, Harris, selected ahead of Mitchell Starc, bristled. Root had not come up against a fully-fit Harris - come to think of it, not many have - and he followed in the next over.
Root's decision to review his lbw decision was appropriate because he could not be entirely sure if the ball had struck bat before pad. But replays suggested that Root had squeezed it - with the pad fractionally first - and Tony Hill, the third umpire, rightly found no reason to overturn umpire Kumar Dharmasena's on-field decision.
After a week of debate about DRS encouraged by events at Trent Bridge, such a tight decision so early in the game was the last thing the umpires needed. DRS worked, the umpires got it right and will feel they deserved a two-week holiday in the sun as a consequence.
Pietersen lasted only four balls, his two runs courtesy of a thick edge against Harris backward of square. Harris had him caught at the wicket, attacking the stumps and maintaining a probing length as one of Australia's finest, Glenn McGrath, did on his appearances at Lord's.
TV cameras showed the Long Room for the first time and revealed Pietersen giving a gentle tap to a stantion as he passed through it, just polite enough to escape too much of a ticking-off, but inviting the question whether the stantion was protecting KP from the members or the other way round.
Trott and Bell began as passively as possible, leaving as much as they could until the game settled. Pattinson sampled both ends at Lord's by lunch without entirely settling to either. Siddle found Trott's edge once but it ran wide of second slip and it was not long before he began to redden in the heat.
The pair approached a pressing rebuilding job in imperturbable fashion, adding 92 in 28 overs, but a fourth wicket at 127 kept the initiative with Australia. Trott had mixed routine deflections off his hips with easeful extra-cover drives, but Harris led him into an uncontrolled pull and Usman Khawaja held the catch at deep square-leg.
Bell did not hit a single boundary down the ground in his hundred at Trent Bridge. He again prospered square of the wicket. But when he did go down the ground, handsomely so, against Siddle, it illustrated that this Lord's pitch was far more amenable to good cricket than its predecessor. That it will turn sharply by the end of the game also looks likely.
The Queen does not normally linger at the cricket - horse racing is her true passion - but she would not have had to linger overlong to be aware of the fall of England wickets at the start of the second Investec Test. Three were dispensed with in the little matter of six overs as Australia, 1-0 down in the series, made the start they had barely dared imagine.
It was a sweltering summer's day with the prospect that Lord's would stage one of the hottest Tests - perhaps the hottest in its history. The UK heatwave was designed to remind Australia of home - and they have an excellent record, too, on this ground with 16 victories and six defeats in 36 Tests.
For all that, as the crowd queued down from St John's Wood tube station, nobody expected them to make a start like they did. There was only a hint of early movement but England, who must have sensed a bountiful batting day after winning the toss, began gingerly: Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Kevin Pietersen all departing.
By lunch, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell had approached a pressing rebuilding job in imperturbable fashion. By lunch, 28 for 3 had become 80 for 3 and the loss of early England wickets suggested that, even if they continued to prosper in ideal batting conditions, batting propriety might be the order of the day for a while yet.
Michael Clarke can bask in one of the captaincy decisions of the series so far. He withdrew James Pattinson after only two overs and it was not entirely apparent whether the appearance of Shane Watson's medium pace was a tactical manoeuvre intended to expose Cook or just an over to assist a change of ends.
As a tactical gambit, it had persuasive points in its favour. Cook forever fights against the tendency to get his head too far over to the off side and a gentle inswing bowler, bringing the ball back down the slope, could potentially expose that to the full. Watson slid his first ball across Cook, the next swung back and Cook was trapped in front.
The umpire, Marais Erasmus, spared the onerous TV duties he had to withstand at Trent Bridge, considered at length before giving Cook out. England's captain, shrewdly, was not drawn by the delay into wasting an appeal. As for Watson, his glorious opening spell lasted a single over.
England's refashioned opening partnership of Cook and Root, assembled after the dropping of Nick Compton, has yet to reach fifty in three attempts. This was definitely a chance wasted.
If Watson briefly brought a placid feel to one end, Ryan Harris, selected ahead of Mitchell Starc, was full of bullish intent. Root had not come up against a fully-fit Harris - come to think of it, not many have - and he followed in the next over.
Root's decision to review his lbw decision was appropriate because he could not be entirely sure if the ball had struck bat before pad. But replays suggested that Root had squeezed it - with the pad fractionally first - and Tony Hill, the third umpire, rightly found no reason to overturn umpire Kumar Dharmasena's on-field decision.
After a week of debate about DRS encouraged by events at Trent Bridge, such a tight decision so early in the game was the last thing the umpires needed. DRS worked, the umpires got it right and will feel they deserved a two-week holiday in the sun as a consequence.
Pietersen lasted only four balls, his two runs courtesy of a thick edge against Harris backward of square. Harris had him caught at the wicket, attacking the stumps and maintaining an probing length as one of Australia's finest, Glenn McGrath, did on his appearances at Lord's.
TV cameras showed the Long Room for the first time and revealed Pietersen giving a gentle tap to a stantion as he passed through it, just polite enough to escape too much of a ticking-off, but inviting the question whether the stantion was protecting KP from the members or the other way round.
Trott and Bell began as passively as possible, leaving as much as they could until the game settled. Pattinson sampled both ends at Lord's by lunch without entirely settling to either.
Peter Siddle found Trott's edge once but it ran wide of second slip and it was not long before he began to redden in the heat. When Bell leant into a cover drive against Harris it signalled to Australia that there was still hard work ahead.
England's automatic decision to bat meant that Usman Khawaja would have to wait to prove the wisdom of Clarke's affirmation that he was ready to become Australia's long-term replacement for Ricky Ponting. Ed Cowan became the latest casualty at No. 3 for Australia after a poor Test at Trent Bridge.
Reminded by Nasser Hussain at the toss that nobody had made the No. 3 batting place his own since the retirement of Ponting, Clarke said: "Usman is about to. He has batted beautifully for the last four months. He is ready for his opportunity."
England omitted Steven Finn on his home ground after a generally insipid display in the first Test. Tim Bresnan won the vote over Finn and Graham Onions.
England will bat 1st play starts 1115 (little late due to players meeting the Queen)
England: A Cook, J Root, J Trott, K Pietersen, I Bell, J Bairstow, M Prior, T Bresnan, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson.
Australia: S Watson, C Rogers, U Khawaja, P Hughes, M Clarke, S Smith, B Haddin, A Agar, P Siddle, J Pattinson, R Harris.
Late wickets dampen Bell's day
Ian Bell conceded that England were "disappointed" to lose three late wickets to surrender a strong position towards the end of the first day of the second Investec Ashes Test at Lord's.
England were progressing smoothly at 271 for 4 when Bell, having made a high-class century, edged a leg-break in the first over from part-time spinner Steve Smith. Bell's dismissal precipitated a decline that saw England lost three wickets for 12 runs and sees them start the second day with no specialist batsmen remaining.
But Bell also suggested that England had recovered well from a poor start - they were 28 for 3 within the first 40 minutes - and that they probably would have settled for a total of 289 for 7 by stumps at that stage.
Bell, with the 19th Test century of his career, was the mainstay of the revival and, after centuries in the final Test of the previous series between the sides at Sydney and in the first Test of this series at Trent Bridge, became just the fourth England batsman to register centuries in three successive Ashes Tests. The others are Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond and Chris Broad.
"It was disappointing to lose those wickets but it wasn't a bad day," Bell said. "We would have taken that at three down early on.
"The important thing is to win the first hour in the morning. We could do with getting to 350 and we do have a bit of batting to come, but it is a bit disappointing to lose those wickets to the late strikes.
"It's very satisfying to play a big innings. It's what I have wanted to do over the last couple of years and you need as big a first-innings score as we can on a that wicket. I had to leave as well as possible early on and then try to cash in as the day went on.
"I've only just found out about the record. It's incredible; a real honour to be with those names. Lord's is a special place and to go back into the dressing room and see that the lads have put your name in tape on the honours board is really special. The innings came at a time that was important for me and the team."
While Bell was understandably dismayed to lose his wicket to a spinner who, before this game, had only four Test wickets and had all but given up bowling, he could see the silver lining in his dismissal.
With Smith getting a leg-break to turn sharply and take the edge of Bell's bat on the first afternoon, he felt that Graeme Swann may also find some assistance later in the game.
"It's a good sign there's a bit of spin from straight," Bell said. "That's nice. He took one wicket with a full toss and then bowled a couple of good deliveries but it's a good sign to have a bit of spin from straight. I'm a little bit surprised by the amount of turn. It usually skids on more at Lord's.
"It's a lot drier than a normal Lord's pitch and looks much different. It's difficult to know what a par score is but the longer we get this weather it will be very dry and hopefully there is more pace by the time we get to the fourth or fifth day."
If England fall below 400 in their first innings, they will have failed to reach that total for nine innings in succession, stretching back to Wellington. While Bell could provide no explanation for that run of form, he felt England's batsmen were "not far away" from a collective return to form.
"Sometimes it happens like that," Bell said. "The work ethic is always there with his group. It's been my turn to get runs, but in the past our top three have been outstanding at setting a platform. We're not far away and when it does happen we'll find ourselves in a good position."
A priceless inch for Bairstow
It is remarkable how one moment of fortune can shape a career. A life, even.
Consider Nasser Hussain. He was recalled for his first Test in almost three years against India at Edgbaston in June 1996 knowing that another failure could prove fatal to his international aspirations. Those were the days long before the phrase 'continuity of selection' had become familiar in England cricket.
So when Hussain gloved one down the leg side early in his comeback innings, he must have feared the worst. Fortunately for him, though, umpire Darrell Hair, took a different view and Hussain survived. He went on to score his first Test century and cemented his place in the Test side for much of the next decade.
It is no exaggeration to suggest that, without that error from Hair, Hussain may never have become England captain and, as a consequence, might never have become part of the Sky commentary team. He might, even now, be stacking shelves in Tesco.
May Jonny Bairstow have been blessed in similar fashion at Lord's? Bairstow had 21 when, his balance unsteady and his focus not on the ball but on the direction he intended the ball to travel, was beaten by one that may have come back into him a fraction from Peter Siddle and was, for the sixth time in a Test career of 14 completed innings, bowled.
Except it turned out to be a no-ball. By the smallest margin possible it turned out to be a no-ball. And Bairstow was reprieved. He went on to register only his second half-century in his last 10 Test innings and add 144 with Ian Bell. In terms of both his career and the match, this was a crucial innings from Bairstow.
It is worth speculating on what may have happened had Siddle's front foot been a couple of millimetres further back. Bairstow would have been out bowled for the fourth time in five innings (to follow twice against in the warm-up against Essex and once at Trent Bridge) and questions about his form and technique would have grown.
So, too, would questions about the suitability of Joe Root to open the batting. Root, having now opened five times with Alastair Cook (three times in Tests and twice against Essex), has yet to make a 50 and, had both he and Bairstow failed here, there would have been calls to allow him to continue his development away from the new ball and at the expense of Bairstow.
That may have had consequences for Nick Compton, too. While the suspicion lingers that the England selectors have reached a verdict on Compton that bodes ill for his international future, there would have been a gathering case for his recall, possibly as a relatively short-term solution, to allow Root to return to a less pressured middle-order spot and provide the new-ball blunting role that England have yet to convincingly display in the series to date.
None of this means the selectors would have changed tactics - they surely would not have done so soon after adopting a new approach - if Bairstow had failed. But the pressure would have grown, the vultures would have gathered and the chances of succeeding may well have diminished.
This innings does not confirm Bairstow's arrival as a Test player. This is, at this stage of the game at least, an unusually flat pitch, his technical issues remain and his failure to go on and convert his start into a match-defining score was regrettable.
But it will help. It will buy him time, not just from the selectors but from the media, and it will give him renewed confidence. It was a significant step in the right direction.
This was still very much Australia's day. While a couple of England batsmen, not least Bell and Kevin Pietersen, could console themselves with the thought that they had received good deliveries, a couple of the others, not least Bairstow and Jonathan Trott, will reflect with bitter disappointment on the part they played in their own downfall.
On a glorious wicket for batting and against a strong seam attack, but one lacking much variety, they had an excellent opportunity to post a commanding total. But losing three wickets for 12 runs against a part-time leg-spinner who had, before today, all but given up bowling was weak. Anything under 450 in the first innings might be considered a wasted opportunity.
Trott, timing the ball sweetly, is clearly in sublime form. But his failure to cash-in on his good starts will frustrate him as much as it is his side. He has now been dismissed for scores of between 27 and 76 in 10 of his last 12 Test innings with a propensity to give it away after doing all the hard work becoming as regular a feature of his batting as it is unwelcome.
There was more encouraging news in the sustained contribution of Bell. He will face tougher attacks in tougher conditions but, as was the case at Trent Bridge, he came to the crease with his side in trouble in an atmosphere as intense as he will face in a home Test. His almost faultless innings - he reached his 50 with a slice that was not far from point - contained solid defence, no outward sign of pressure and, as he became more established, a succession of gorgeous strokes that spoke of a gift for timing granted to very few.
He is now, along with Hobbs, Hammond and Chris Broad, one of only four England players to have scored centuries in three successive Ashes Tests. His journey has encompassed in a few detours and taken a little longer than expected to reach its destination, but he has now become the player his ability always threatened to make him.
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