Australia's Chris Rogers 158 not out (left) and Steven Smith 129 not out, soak up the applause as they leave the ground at stumps after leading their team to 337-1 against England July 16, 2015 at Lord's - Getty Images
By Patrick R. Anderson
Sporting a 1-0 series lead in the 5-match Ashes series, England's bowlers were made to look ordinary on Thursday's opening day of the 2nd Ashes test at Lord's, as Australia piled on the agony to score 337-1 by close.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Australia never lost grip of the day's play, save for the loss of David Warner for 38, who was caught by Jimmy Anderson off Moeen Ali at 1-78.
Catches went abegging too, and 37-year-old Chris Rogers and 26 year-old Steven Smith made England pay.
Smith who joined Rogers after Warner fell, was first to his century, reaching three figures off 161 balls with 9x4s and 1x6 when he pulled down to deep midwicket for a boundary. Rogers soon joined him, achieving the coveted century mark off 209 balls with 17x4s. There names have already been inscribed on the Lord's Honour Wall.
The two established an Australian record for the highest second wicket partnership against England at Lord's of 259 runs and still counting, surpassing the 231 put together by Donald Bradman and WM Woodfall on June 27, 1930.
Rogers went on to a 'big daddy' as the Australians refer to scores of 150 and more in tests, and the left hander closed on 158 not out off 282 balls including 25x4s. Smith's 129 not out came off 217 balls with 13x4s and 1x6.
Moeen Ali is the wicket taker with 1-82.
For Australia, 29 year old wicketkeeper Peter Nevill made his test debut on Thursday. He moved from Victoria and has been a fixture at New South Wales, where even when Brad Haddin (whom he replaced in this test due to personal reasons) is available for duty, Nevill is still in the state side because of his solid batting.
Nevill has averaged 44.29 runs in 55 first class matches with 3012 runs. He has held 165 catches and made 10 stumpings.
Score again at stumps on day-1 of the 2nd Ashes test at Lord's: Australia 337-1 off 90 overs, Chris Rogers 158 not out and Steven Smith 129 not out.
England lead the series 1-0.
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