England v Australia, 2nd Test, Day 2 - Mitchell Johnson was a treat to watch

Stuart Broad pitched the ball up, cut it away and swung a bit by keeping the cherry on the line of off stump and surely, he the best English bowler on day 2. He dismissed the theory of the experts that it would be tough to take 20 wickets on this Lord’s track which has been tagged as batting friendly.

As a matter of fact, this track at Lord’s has it both for the batsmen and bowlers – the batsmen will be able to score runs if they know how to slow down and lift the tempo while the pace bowlers need to pitch the ball up and target hitting the top of offstump.

Mitchell Starc, Jos Hazle Wood and Mitchell Johnson learned from the mistakes of Cardiff and got things right at Lord’s by hitting the deck hard – pitched it up more, targeted the top of off and delivered the ball fuller at pace along the line of middle and off. In Cardiff, it was too full on the middle-and-leg stump line. 

I enjoyed watching Mitchell Johnson. He bowled with an aggressive intent and always gave the impression of getting a wicket each time he ran into bowl. His short-pitched stuffs were not as ferocious as Brisbane of 2013, but they were fiery enough to put chills down the English spine. He was a treat to watch on day 2 and it seems that, he will prove handy for the English in this Test match.

But, the day belongs to Steve Smith,  who came the first Australian to score a double hundred at Lord’s since Don Bradman and Bill Brown and the first Australian to smash a double ton away from home since 2006 and also the first Australian to notch-up an Ashes double ton since 2002. It was such a matured knock and again, it was the product of perfect utilization of slowing down the tempo and lifting it according to the demand of the situation.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar