London: After Ian Bell and Jonny Bairstow had steered England to safety, Steve Smith brought some joy to the Australian faces as he sent the two set batsmen back to the pavilion in quick succession and later went on to take the wicket of Matt Prior that left England at 289 for seven at the end of Day One of the second Ashes Test being played at Lords on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, it was Ryan Harris who grabbed the opportunity with both the hands as he picked up couple of quick wickets to push England on back-foot. England were down and out at the score of 3/28 but Jonathan Trott came to the rescue and was looking in great touch. He added 52 runs with Bell for the fourth wicket till the lunch and ended the session with 3/80.
The second session of the play saw some exquisite shots from Trott and Bell which also pushed th
e scoring rate of England. England were cruising as Trott crossed the 50 run-mark in the 30th over. Bell started to find the boundary on a more consistent basis and milked the likes of James Pattinson and Shane Watson. A minor alteration in the field made by Clarke did the trick as Trott hit the ball straight into the hands of Khawaja standing at deep square leg.
However, Bell found a good partner in Bairstow and soon the runs started flowing in for England. Bell reached his half-century with a flashing square drive. With the repairing work going on quite well, England ended up with 4/182 after the end of second session.
The final session proved to be quite irritating for Aussie skipper as the partnership of Bell and Bairstow kept growing from strength to strength as they brought a 100 run-stand in just 173 balls. England were looking to finish the day on a very positive note as they passed the 250 run-mark in the 70th over but the bowling change made in the final hour of play did wonders for the Aussies. Smith took the wickets of Bell, Bairstow and Prior to reduce the English team to 7/289 after the end of 89 overs that were bowled in the first day’s play at Lord’s.
Bell, however, managed to score 109 runs which also saw his third consecutive century against Australia whereas Bairstow scored 67 off 146 balls that he faced.
Brief Scores- England 1st innings (Ian Bell 109, Jonny Bairstow 67, Jonathan Trott 58, Alastair Cook 12, Ryan Harris 3/43, Steve Smith 3/18, Shane Watson 1/41)