NEW DELHI: On the second day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's in London, Australia's Steve Smith completed his 32nd century. However, England managed to take the remaining five wickets they needed to dismiss the tourists for 416 in an action-packed 90 minutes of play.
During Australia's innings, Smith, who was on 85 at the start of the day, saw Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc fall quickly to Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson respectively.
England's seamers displayed a renewed vigor and determination, responding to previous criticisms of their lackluster performance on the previous day.
Nevertheless, Smith, who had surpassed 9,000 runs on Wednesday, continued to torment England with his relentless batting style. He reached his 32nd Test century with an emphatic cover drive, but was eventually caught superbly by Ben Duckett at second slip, giving Josh Tongue his third wicket of the innings.
In response, England's openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley safely negotiated four overs before lunch, taking the team's score to 13/0.
Captain Pat Cummins, who batted superbly to bring Australia home in the first Test, again looked assured to end unbeaten on 22, but Nathan Lyon, his impressive partner at Edgbaston, could not resist hooking a short ball despite a field set precisely for his mis-hit and was duly caught for seven.
A flying Joe Root slip catch to dismiss Josh Hazlewood off Ollie Robinson ended the innings, with Australia having added 77 in the session.
As they were seemingly cruising at 316-3 on Wednesday afternoon with England’s attack looking blunt, it represented a strong comeback for the hosts, started when Root snaffled two wickets late on the first day.
However, having lost the toss and been put in, the tourists will be delighted with their total.
(With Reuters inputs)
