Ashes 2nd Test, day 1: Strauss & Cook but not much more
England 364/6, Strauss 161*, Cook 95At 196/0 halfway through this first day, England were dreaming of a mammoth score of the type they should have achieved at Cardiff. Strauss and Cook were superb – their 196 opening stand was England’s highest ever at Lord’s.
Mitchell Johnson was all over the place (7 runs per over at that stage), Nathan Hauritz had dislocated his finger and was off to hospital for an x-ray. Glenn McGrath was nowhere in sight, and all was well with the world.
As it turned out, a dream was all it was, barring more tailend heroics on day 2.
As Australia improved, wickets started to fall at regular intervals and too many gave up their wickets too easily, including KP again and Cardiff saviour Paul Collingwood. For Strauss, it must have been an infuriating sense of deja-vu watching from the non-strikers end. A second highest partnership of 45 says it all.
364/6 is better than the 1st day at Cardiff, but not by as much as England would like. But at least Strauss will be there in the morning, on 161 not out, so the tail will have someone to bat with. They will look to achieve a score of 500+. If they don’t Australia will sense the opportunity to go one better than they did at Cardiff.
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