Daijiworld Media Network

London, Jul 18 : A warm welcome to one and all for the second Ashes Test between England and Australia. After the heart-stopper at Trent Bridge, it is now time for the headquarters of cricket, Lords, to showcase another chapter in this intriguing rivalry. It is bright and sunny at the moment.

News coming in is that Ed Cowan and Mitchell Starc are out for this match. Usman Khawaja and Ryan Harris are the replacements in the Australian team. No news coming in from the England team though, although there are news that Tim Bresnan might come into the team. However, we are awaiting official news.

England have won the toss and elected to bat

Clarke: 'We would have batted first. Khawaja and Harris replace Cowan and Starc. I do not have much of a say in the selection and so I back the selectors. Harris gives aggression to the bowling. Khawaja has been in superb form in the last 12 months. Lords is like our home ground.'

Cook: 'We will bat first. With the heat today, the pitch might dry up. Bresnan replaces Finn. Australia played really well at Trent Bridge and we expect more of the same.

The Australian and England teams are lining up near the Member's end of the ground to greet the Royal Guest.

The Queen is visiting both teams at the ground. Play will start at 11:15 AM local time, which is 15:45 PM IST.

The Queen now meets with the umpires and the other match officials. She now meets ECB Chairman, Giles Clark. Now, Alastair Cook greets the queen and he introduces the England players. Hip Hip Hooray cheers echo around and the Queen now heads back into the special box where the MCC officials are seated.

Out comes the Queen and she is greeted with warm applause. Michael Clarke now introduces the Queen to each of the Australian players.

Teams:

Australia (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Usman Khawaja, Phillip Hughes, Michael Clarke(c), Steven Smith, Brad Haddin(w), Ashton Agar, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Ryan Harris

England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook(c), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonathan Bairstow, Matt Prior(w), Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson

Michael Vaughan tweets: This pitch is an absolute belter. It is a dry wicket.
Just one fact: Australia love playing Tests at Lords. Before their loss in 2009, they had not lost a Test at this venue for 75 years.

Match preview

As the Ashes began to unfold at Trent Bridge, the entire cricketing world watched with bated breath as the two traditional rivals went head on in one of the most closely fought encounters. There was drama on every day, the English batting line up succumbed to Peter Siddle on Day 1 before their bowlers led the fightback. Ashton Agar, playing in his first Ashes test, showed the sort of maturity that would befit a veteran. Although missing out on a ton by just two runs, his record 10th wicket partnership with Phillip Hughes lifted the Aussies immensely. England fought back though and when play began on the final day, they looked well set for an easy victory. The final pair of Brad Haddin and James Pattinson showed great fight but the Aussies went down by 14 runs.

The Test at Trent Bridge was marred by several contentious umpiring decisions though with the ICC accepting that there were some wrong calls for both teams. As the series moves to Lord's for the second test, both teams would have ideally wanted to forget the bad memories of the first test. England though have been saddled with scathing comments from past greats regarding Stuart Broad with West Indian legend, Michael Holding implicitly comparing the action with that of Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies keeper who was banned for two ODIs, ironically by Stuart's father, Chris, for breaching the 'Spirit of the game' during the Champions Trophy. If Australia were buoyed by their fighting performance at Trent Bridge, the shocking revelations coming via a leaked mail from their previous coach, Mickey Arthur could not have been more badly timed.

Lord's has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Aussies, but England finally broke a winless streak when they beat their familiar foes back in 2009. It was England's first win over Australia at the home of cricket since 1934. Having got rid of the bogey, England will know that a win at Lord's will place them at a comfortable position in their quest to regain the 'urn'.

England's batting has been pretty shaky ever since the historic India series late last year and the inconsistency continued at Trent Bridge. Joe Root, batting at the top of the order for the first time failed to justify the hype that followed him. Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen, all got runs but failed to convert them into bigger knocks. It was left to Ian Bell, who scored his first Ashes ton at home to help England recover from a dodgy 121/4 to a more-than-comfortable 375 all-out in their second innings.

James Anderson loves bowling at Trent Bridge and he did not let down his captain as he ended with a match haul of 10/158. The back-up was lacking at times and they even looked to have run out of ideas when young Agar got going. Steven Finn lacked rhythm while Broad was sidelined with an injury in the first innings. Graeme Swann struggled to find his bearings during Australia's chase of 311 but found form at just the right time for his team.

Australia will take heart from the fact that they ran England very close despite their top-order failing twice. Shane Watson got starts, but failed to build-on, Chris Rogers, playing his first Test since 2008 looked composed out in the middle. Ed Cowan and Clarke endured a poor Test. The poor usage of the review system by Clarke was to hurt the team further as the Test progressed.

Australia's bowling lived up to its billing as the four pronged lead attack kept an hold on the Englishmen. Siddle led from the front while Mitchell Starc was on a hat-trick twice in the match. Agar came more into the match on the back of his batting exploits and was unlucky to end up with just two wickets.

Team News: England have named an unchanged 13 for the Lords Test, but there are signs that Tim Bresnan might get the nod ahead of Steve Finn in the final elevan.

Ed Cowan looked out of his depth in the first Test, and with David Warner in South Africa, Usman Khawaja might finally break into the playing XI.

Weather conditions: Good weather has been predicted for the entire duration of the Test match. The pitch is likely be a typical Lord's track with plenty of runs on offer.