Australia lost opener Shane Watson as England struck with the last ball of yesterday’s first session of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in London.
At lunch, Australia were 42-1 in reply to England’s first innings 361, a deficit of 319 runs.
Watson, who has scored just two centuries in 42 previous Tests, looked in good touch making 30, but with just two balls of the session left he played across the line of a Tim Bresnan delivery and was given out leg before wicket by Sri Lankan umpire Kumar Dharmasena.
Photo: Reuters
Even though wasted reviews had cost Australia dear during Ashes-holders England’s 14-run first Test win at Trent Bridge in Nottingham last week, Watson sought a referral, but third umpire Tony Hill confirmed the decision, leaving Chris Rogers 12 not out on his Middlesex home ground.
Earlier, England’s Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann frustrated Australia by adding 48 runs for the last wicket. Ryan Harris led Australia’s attack in fine style with five wickets for 72 runs in 26 overs.
England resumed on 289-7 after Ian Bell’s 109 rescued them from the depths of 28-3.
Photo: AFP
Harris, recalled in place of the dropped Mitchell Starc for his first Test in over a year, had a wicket with the first ball yesterday when Bresnan was caught by diving wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
The injury-prone Harris then secured a place on the Lord’s honors boards by taking his fifth wicket of the innings when nightwatchman Anderson was also caught behind.
Broad, a left-handed batsman, pulled and cover-drove Peter Siddle for two fours in three balls, before Swann (28 not out) got in on the act.
It may not have been a last-wicket stand to rival Australia’s record 163 at Trent Bridge, but they were painful runs for the tourists to concede.
Broad, whose Test-best 169 was scored at Lord’s against Pakistan in 2010, then pulled Siddle for a superb six and when Harris then bounced Swann, the off-spinner hooked him for four to the applause of a capacity crowd basking in sunshine.
The innings ended when Broad, the son of former England opener turned match referee Chris, was caught behind off James Pattinson for 33.
Broad, who controversially stood his ground when given not out despite getting a thick edge at Trent Bridge, asked for a review, but replays confirmed the edge.
On Thursday, Harris said fellow seamer Siddle’s “unacceptable” no-ball that saw England’s Jonny Bairstow reprieved at Lord’s could have cost Australia the Ashes.
Bairstow had made 21 on the first day of the second Test when he was clean bowled by Siddle, with England then teetering on 171-5, but he was told to wait on the outfield by umpire Dharmasena as the Sri Lankan asked replay official Hill to check for a front-foot no-ball.
After several minutes’ study, the New Zealander decided Siddle had over-stepped, albeit fractionally.
With what had been a wicket changed into a one-run penalty for a no-ball, England’s fifth wicket duo went on to add a hundred more runs, before Bell was out with the score on 271-5.
Bairstow himself pressed on to make 67.
Harris said coach Darren Lehmann and bowling coach Ali de Winter had both repeatedly emphasized the importance of avoiding no-balls.
“Ali de Winter and Darren are strict on us in the nets,” Harris said. “Once we are off our long runs we are not allowed to go over. There is no excuse.”
“The line is there for a reason and it is unacceptable,” the 33-year-old Queensland paceman added.
As England hold the Ashes, they only have to draw the series to retain them, whereas Australia need an outright win across the five Tests to regain the urn.
“It cost us a lot of runs today [Thursday] and potentially it could cost us the Ashes,” Harris said of the Siddle no-ball. “We were pretty disappointed. Darren was not very happy when we went in for lunch. You just can’t afford to have to take 11 wickets or 12 wickets. It’s as simple as that. It was probably the only one he [Siddle] bowled.”
Indeed, it was the lone no-ball Siddle delivered in what turned out to be a wicketless return of 12 overs for 48 runs.
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