The Ashes 2013: 2nd Test at Lord's - Five players to watch out for on Day 2

The first day of the second Test at Lord’s oscillated with every session of play as the day finished with England at 289/7. They will be hoping to add a few more runs to that total before the Australian openers take the crease.

The day opened with the royal visit of the Queen, after which Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat. Both the teams tinkered with their sides as Steven Finn was displaced by Tim Bresnan whereas Australia made two changes by including Usman Khawaja and Ryan Harris in place of Ed Cowan and Mitchell Starc.

The surface at Lord’s had a bit of grass on it but it was rolled in. The outfield looks lightning quick and the surface is hard promising an equal contest between bat and ball. It was not as abrasive as Trent Bridge and hence reverse-swing kicked in much later in English innings.

Australia made a couple of critical early breakthroughs. Michael Clarke observed the presence of some lateral movement early on and handed the ball to Shane Watson as early as the fourth over of the match and was rewarded with the scalp of the English captain.

Joe Root looked unsettled in his brief stay on the pitch but his nightmare was brought to a quick end by Harris. He justified his inclusion by sending Kevin Pietersen back to the pavilion with a full length delivery outside the off stump, which did enough to take an outside edge and carried to Brad Haddin. Australia were on top of the game at 28/3.

Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott steadied the innings before he succumbed to Harris while attempting an uncharacteristic pull-stroke. Jonny Bairstow paid back the trust invested in him by the team management as he weaved a critical partnership of 144 runs with Bell.

At that stage, it seemed like England would close the day out at about 300/4 but it was not to be as the Australia found their redemption through an unlikely source. Steven Smith, with his uncanny imitation of Shane Warne’s leg spin bowling, ran through the English middle-order, picking up three quick wickets.

Day two promises to be a fascinating encounter and here is a list of five players we can keep an eye on:

5. Tim Bresnan

Bresnan’s inclusion in the side ahead of Finn was not entirely unexpected given Finn’s underwhelming performance at Trent Bridge but many hoped that the tall fast bowler would be given another run at his home ground.

Bresnan is a perfectly good replacement, who gives additional strength to the batting line-up. He will be given the responsibility of making a small but critical contribution to England total on the morning of Day 2.

However, his primary role will begin when Chris Rogers and Watson walk out. Stuart Broad is most likely to share the new ball with James Anderson and Bresnan will run in as the first change option.

His ability to derive movement in the air and off the pitch with consistent accuracy will be required on this surface. He will have to perform the kind of role Harris performed for Australia – bowling wicket to wicket and building the pressure from one end.

4. Chris Rogers

The veteran had a moderately successful start to his Ashes career as he made a half-century in the second innings at Trent Bridge. He has the ability to anchor the innings for Australia, which is exactly what is required given that they will be measuring themselves against a target over 300.

Anything short of the English first innings total will spell defeat for Australia. The batting conditions will be friendly and Rogers has the vital experience of playing at Lord’s many a time during his county career.

He is the ideal foil to his opening partner Watson and they will be hoping to take a step forward from the Trent Bridge second innings performance.

3. Graeme Swann

The off-spinner was shielded as a batsman by a night-watchman of sorts as number eleven Anderson walked in to close out the day for England. That indicates that England rely on Swann to get them some critical runs on Day 2 pushing the score closer to the 350 mark.

He likes to play his shots and the fast outfield at Lord’s gives you full value. While he will be relishing that prospect, he will have a major role to do when Australia wield the willow.

There will be no further excuses for him as there were at Trent Bridge where his record was not altogether impressive. The surface is not deteriorating but there is ample bounce and a bit of turn for him to work with. England will be hoping that he can take some work-load off the shoulders of Anderson.

2. Shane Watson

The all-rounder has been at the heart of the controversy initiated by Mickey Arthur’s legal claim against the Australian Cricket Board but he seems focused upon the job at hand. He delivered the key wicket of Cook with the ball and was miserly on a day when the runs were flowing thick and fast.

He does not have a huge amount of pace but he bowls to the captain’s fields and is an excellent asset to the team. He looked a little nervous opening the innings in the first innings at Trent Bridge but the knock of 46 runs would have given him some confidence.

Australia will be searching for a top-order batsman to provide the kind of impetus that Bell provided to England in this series so far and Watson is a likely candidate.

1. James Anderson

Ten-wicket hero at Trent Bridge. A lot of talk ahead of the Test has been about England’s extreme reliance upon the swing bowler and hence his performance will be under scrutiny. Even if he takes a five-wicket-haul, it will only be what is expected out of him.

Conditions at Lord’s will offer a bit of swing upfront with the new ball but it will take a while for reverse-swing to kick-in as a result of which over 20-50 become crucial. It will be interesting to see how Cook uses Anderson during that stage of the game. If Australia can negate him, they stand a good chance of putting up a competitive total on board.