England’s openers have made early inroads to Australia’s first innings total after the tourists were bowled out before lunch for 416 on the second morning at Lord’s.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett survived a testing 20 minute period prior to the luncheon break before settling in under sunny London skies.
England is currently 0/54 after 11 overs with Crawley (32*) and Duckett (20*) in the middle.
Earlier, Steve Smith brought up yet another Ashes century on Thursday morning where the Aussies lost 5/77 on Day 2 as England cleaned up the rest of the Australian order.
After resuming day two on 85, Smith reached triple figures with a trademark cover drive off James Anderson, passing the milestone in 169 deliveries.
It was his 32nd Test century — which equals former Australian captain Steve Waugh on the all-time tally — and his 12th against England.
Smith becomes just the third player to score 12 Ashes hundreds, and the first since Sir Donald Bradman achieved the feat in 1937.
Shortly after passing Steve Waugh for the most Ashes runs in history to move to fourth place overall, Smith was dismissed first ball after the drinks break, caught in the gully by Ben Duckett off the bowling of Josh Tongue.
MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs England, second Test, day two, live scoreboard
England snared two early breakthroughs on Thursday morning as Smith slowly approached triple figures at Lord’s.
In his first over of day two, England veteran Stuart Broad nipped a delivery past Alex Carey’s inside edge, striking the Australian wicketkeeper on the pads. Umpire Ahsan Raza initially adjudicated it was not out, but the decision was overturned on review, with Carey gone for 22.
Mitchell Starc departed shortly after, flashing at a full delivery from James Anderson and edging behind to England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for 6,
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The start of day two was delayed by five minutes due to weather.
There was plenty of rain overnight and early in the morning, but the BBC reported the precipitation would be “most likely gone by 10am — but could hang on until 11am so the possibility of a delayed start”.
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On day one, Australia lost the toss and was sent in to bat, before making England pay for its sloppiness in the field.
Four of Australia’s top five batters scored more than 45 runs, including Travis Head who blitzed his 77 runs off just 73 balls.
Joe Root salvaged something for the hosts late in the day with his two wickets in four balls leaving Australia five down at stumps.
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TEAMS
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, James Anderson
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
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