England waste perfect start at Lord’s

Second Test, Day One: England 364/6. England made a strong start to the Lord's Test, their opening pair of Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss reaching 196-0 off less than 50 overs against a ragged Australian bowling attack.

However the tourists came back, taking six wickets for 170 runs as Cook (95), Bopara (18), Pietersen (32) and First Test hero Paul Collingwood (16) all failed to make the most of a perfect pitch.

Andrew Flintoff, who announced before the game that he would be retiring from Test cricket at the end of this series, only managed four before he was caught by Ricky Ponting off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus.

The England innings was held together by captain Strauss, who resumes on 161 today and could top his Test best of 177 within the first hour if the rain holds off. He is supported by Stuart Broad (seven not out).

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Mike Atherton, the Times: "As at Cardiff, England did not exactly have a bad opening day, but they did not have a great one, either, wasting a gilt-edged opportunity to hammer a nail in the coffin of Australia’s bowling, made threadbare by a serious injury to Nathan Hauritz, who dislocated the middle finger of his bowling hand, and the appalling form of Mitchell Johnson, the strike bowler. For no apparent reason, England declined from 221 for one to 317 for five, so that Flintoff found himself walking down the steps of the Long Room and out to a standing ovation with 11 overs remaining. He did not last long, pushing forward to Ben Hilfenhaus, Australia’s best bowler, and edging to second slip, having unfurled only one powerful stroke."

Mike Selvey, the Guardian: "A position of strength, a chance to nail Australia with the game still in its infancy, was squandered wantonly by the fragile England middle order. An opening partnership of 196 between Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, the highest England have made against Australia at Lord's, had the shirt-sleeved crowd bubbling. England were romping, Australia a rabble. But this is England and it had to be too good to last. Cook, five short of a third century at Lord's, became an unexpected victim for Mitchell Johnson, whose bowling had been so inept, such utter garbage, that doubts were being cast on whether his South African heroics were a myth, concocted in the same studio in which conspiracy theorists insist the moon landings were fabricated."

Derek Pringle, Daily Telegraph: "Strauss, his strokes still crisp and even after six and a bit hours at the crease, finished unbeaten on 161, an innings that also saw him pass 5,000 Test runs. He will want to add significantly to England’s 364-6 on Friday, a position only marginally better than the one England had on the first day at Cardiff (336-7) and we all know how insufficient that proved. Lord’s has been Australian sovereign territory for 75 years and Strauss will want to reclaim it if he can. On a belter of a track, he and Alastair Cook, were lone pillars of excellence in an otherwise crumbling edifice brought low, as it had been in the previous Test, by a succession of loose shots. The pair’s opening stand of 196 was the highest ever here against Australia, beating the 182 scored by Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in 1926." ·