England bat, Australia pick Harris and Khawaja

By: Mushtaq ahmad on 15:29

Share it Please

Tweet

0

	The sun shone brightly on London at the start of the Lord's Test © Getty Images  Enlarge

England chose to bat on a sweltering day at Lord's at the start of the second Investec Test, which meant that Usman Khawaja would have to wait to prove the wisdom of Michael Clarke's affirmation that he was ready to become Australia's long-term replacement for Ricky Ponting.

Ed Cowan became the latest casualty at No. 3 for Australia after a poor Test at Trent Bridge, and the visitors made a second change by bringing in Ryan Harris for his fellow fast bowler, Mitchell Starc.

Reminded by Nasser Hussain at the toss that nobody had made the No. 3 batting place his own since the retirement of Ponting, Clarke said: "Usman is about to. He has batted beautifully for the last four months. He is ready for his opportunity."

On the inclusion of Harris, Clarke said: "Obviously a fresh set of legs will help us but the selectors have picked this mainly on conditions."

The inclusion of Harris for the second of two back-to-back Tests was understandable, but it was a quick loss of faith in Starc, who will surely play a further part before the end of the series. Harris will be anticipating more pace and bounce, initially at least, than was present on a dead Trent Bridge surface.

England omitted Steven Finn on his home ground after a generally insipid display in the first Test. Tim Bresnan won the vote over Finn and Graham Onions. Alastair Cook said: "It was a tough decision but we feel this combination is the best for this wicket."

The prospect that the heat wave in the UK will extend throughout the Test was designed to remind Australia of home - and they have an excellent record on this ground with 16 victories and six defeats in 36 Tests.

The toss was taken five minutes early and the start of play delayed for 15 minutes because players and officials were to be presented to the Queen.

England: 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Joe Root, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James Anderson.

Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 Chris Rogers, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Steve Smith, 6 Phillip Hughes, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Ryan Harris, 11 James Pattinson.