Ashes 2019: Josh Hazlewood strikes early but England recover before lunch

Josh Hazlewood made an instant impact on his return to Australia side with two wickets in a fantastic opening spell as the second Ashes Test got under way at Lord’s.

SCORECARD | AS IT HAPPENED

After day one was washed out, Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and put England in to bat. It looked like an inspired decision when Hazlewood removed Jason Roy with his third ball before trapping Joe Root lbw a few overs later.

An unbeaten stand of 50 between Rory Burns (34no) and Joe Denly (27no) gave the home fans, many of whom were decked out in red on Ruth Strauss Foundation Day at the home of cricket, something to cheer though as they batted through the second hour to take England to 76-2 at lunch.

Following the toss, the five-minute bell was rung by Sam and Luca Strauss, sons of Andrew and Ruth, before the players came out wearing red caps that will now be auctioned off to raise money for the foundation.

Once the action began, Australia were quickly on top as Pat Cummins started with a maiden to Burns and three balls into the next over, Roy pushed at one he could have left from Hazlewood and edged behind for a duck.

Cummins and Hazlewood continued to build the pressure with some excellent new-ball bowling, a pair of perfectly executed cover drives from Root and an expensive over from Peter Siddle eased it somewhat but Hazlewood soon struck again.

He nipped the first ball of his fifth over back up the slope to beat Root’s inside edge and him plumb in front. Up went the umpire’s finger and out went the England captain after quickly deciding a review would be futile.

Hazlewood then surprised Denly with a bouncer, hitting the batsman firmly on the helmet, but the England No 4 battled through a tricky start to his innings and, alongside Burns, ensured no further damage was inflicted before the end of the session.

There were no real demons in the surface but the partnership was not without incident. Burns drove at Siddle on 16 and sent a thick edge to Usman Khawaja who dropped a routine chance at gully.

Nathan Lyon then spun one past Denly’s inside edge and when the umpire turned down the initial appeal, Australia reviewed, only for ball-tracking to show the ball would have missed leg stump.

From there, the England pair played determinedly through to lunch and Burns brought up the fifty partnership with a square drive for four in the last over of the session.

Watch continued live coverage of the second Test between England and Australia on Sky Sports The Ashes and Main Event.

(c) Sky Sports 2019: Ashes 2019: Josh Hazlewood strikes early but England recover before lunch