England and Australia will battle it out in the second test of the Ashes series at the iconic Lords stadium in London from Wednesday, June 28th, to Sunday, July 2nd. The match is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. IST.

Preview 

After an entertaining first test match where Australia rose from the depths of defeat and burned down the old memories from the 2005 test match at the same venue after 18 years, led by Usman Khawaja's grittiness and Pat Cummins's splendid knock to take his team to a memorable win at Edgbaston, Birmingham, Australia leads the series 1-0 heading into the second test match. 

England has major problems to resolve and correct ahead of the second test match. Despite their new bazball approach, England failed to win the test match. A lot of missed chances, the finger injury to the team's lead spinner Moeen Ali, and Stokes underusing himself by not bowling many overs to support his team. Our team will cover the cricket news from the second test.

Joe Root was the standout performer for England in the first test. It will be interesting to see whether Root will bowl more overs in the second test and whether Moeen Ali will play the second test match with his injury concerns. The only major backup option available for England if Moeen Ali is unfit to play the second test is Daniel Lawrence, or England might bring in Chris Wokaes, who can swing the ball and can be a handy batsman down the order. The rest of the starting lineup is expected to be the same.

Australia will be roaring with confidence heading into the second test match after their solid performance in the first test. Steve Smith failed to deliver in the first, and he will be gearing up for something special at the iconic Lord's, where he scored a gritty 92 the last time he played there in 2019. In the same test match, a new star for Australia was born in the form of Marnus Labuschagne. Labuschagne replaced Smith as a concussion substitute and scored a match-saving knock. He too will draw inspiration from his last outing at Lord's.

The major question for Australia has been: why was Mitchell Starc not part of the playing XI in the first test, and will Starc be part of the playing XI in the second test? If yes, then who among Boland and Hazlewood will sit out?

Scott Boland was the least effective in the first test, and his economy rate was on the higher side in both innings. As per the sources, Mitchell Starc is likely to replace Boland in the playing XI for the second test.

Stats That Matters The Most 

The last time both England and Australia clashed at Lords, the match ended in a draw.

Stuart Broad is 12 wickets away from reaching the 600-wicket milestone in test matches. Broad has bagged 108 wickets in 27 test matches at Lord's.

James Anderson is 14 wickets away from reaching the 700-wicket milestone in test matches. Anderson has picked up 117 wickets in 27 matches at Lord's in his career.

Nathan Lyon is five wickets away from reaching the 500-wicket landmark in test matches. Lyon has picked up 495 wickets in 121 test matches.

Joe Root has slammed 1680 runs in 19 test matches at a staggering average of 52.50 at Lords.

Steve Smith has scored 381 runs in seven innings at an average of 54.43 at Lords.

England vs Australia 2nd Test Pitch Report, Lords, London.

England expected a flat track in the first test match, but the pitch slowed down considerably in the later stages of the match.

The surface at Lords is usually a bowler-friendly track with a lot of swing and seam movement throughout the first two days of the test match. As the game progresses, the seamers can extract a reverse swing from the older ball. Spinners come into play on days 3, 4, and 5 of the test match. Batting becomes a lot easier on days 3 and 4 of the test match.

Ground Stats 

Matches Played: 144

Matches won batting first: 51 

Matches won batting second: 42 

No result/ draw: 51 

Average 1st innings score: 309

Average 2nd innings score: 299

Average 3rd innings score: 299

Average 4th innings score: 154 

England vs Australia 2nd Ashes test match Probable Playing XI

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali/ Daniel Lawrence/ Chris Woakes, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson. 

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc/ Scott Boland. 

England vs Australia 2nd Test Fantasy XI

Wicket-Keeper: Alex Carey, Jonny Bairstow

Batsman: Steve Smith (vc), Usman Khawaja, Joe Root ©, Travis Head, Ollie Pope, Harry Brook 

All-rounders: Cameron Green 

Bowlers: Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon