Jubilant England will take on Australia at the second test on Thursday at Lord’s, often referred to as the Mecca of Cricket. England are already leading the Ashes 2015 test series by 1-0, and now the pressure is on the visitors’ head to outshine the hosts. The fantastic victory of hosts at first test of this year’s Ashes series gave the impetus to Alistair Cook and Co. to thwart the super fast Aussie Express comprising of some deadly bowling attacks from Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc from both ends.

The Ashes 2015

Australia decides to keep the out-of-form Shane Watson away from the final 11 for the second test, bringing his 59-test match career to halt. He will be replaced by Perth-born-cricketer Mitchell March, who has played just 4-tests until now. The top-class all-rounder has been punished for his failure to save the team at the Cardiff test. He scored only 30 & 19 in this test match. Also, Watson’s performance at tests is below average for quite some time. He just got 2 half centuries in the last 16 innings, which paves the way for young Mitchell Marsh’s selection in the Aussie test squad for Lords test.

On the contrary, England might have to keep in-form Moen Ali out of the upcoming test despite of his good form due to some injury concern. The final picture about the star all-rounder’s availability will be cleared only on Thursday morning when Alistair Cook picks the final 11 at Lords ground. Ali performed brilliantly in the first test, scoring vital 77 in the second innings and picking up a total of 5 vital wickets in the test match.

The manner in which England made a comeback at the Cardiff test was truly impressive. Now, it seems that English Cricket Team had forgotten bad memories of Ashes in which they conceded 5-0 clean sweep to Australia in 2011. However, the statistics is a matter of the past and the young England team under Cook’s captaincy has emerged as a tough team to beat at home.

English Cricket Team is very cautious at this moment. They know the fact that world champions like Australia can pounce back anytime and attack you severely; hence they are keeping their nerves under control and feet on the ground. English cricketers are not letting the feeling of complacency sets in. Instead, they are putting their cent per cent efforts at the net. England need two more test victories to clinch the Ashes series 2015, and are zeroing in on that.

Australia (Expected Playing XI)

Michael Clarke (Captain), Steve Smith, Peter Nevill (W&K), Chris Rogers, David Warner, Adam Voges, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, , Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood & Nathan Lyon.

England (Expected Playing XI)

Alastair Cook (Captain), Ian Bell, James Anderson, Moeen Ali, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (W&K), Steven Finn, Adam Lyth, and Ben Stokes.

Tags: 2nd Test, Ashes 2015, Australia, England, Lords, Preview, Test Cricket, Test Match