Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook Put England in Control on First Morning

England made an emphatic statement of intent here today after winning the toss and choosing to bat. At lunch they were 126 without loss after 29 overs and Australia's bowlers left the field looking a little rueful.

England's first decision was to bring in Graham Onions for Monty Panesar, the ony change from their team in Cardiff. The temptation to leave out Stuart Broad, who looked so off colour in the first Test, in favour of Steve Harmison, was ignored.

This looked a little tentative by England. Lord's would surely have given Harmison the pace and bounce on which he thrives, and which he has seen so little of in his recent Test matches, however much he has disappointed in terms of his own performance.

After watching the first few overs, however, the England selectors may have had a point. Despite what groundsman Mick Hunt said about the pitch being full of pace and carry it looked easy-paced, with little encouragement for the quick men.

Having said that the bowling, and particularly that from Mitchell Johnson, was very ordinary. Johnson's eight overs this morning cost 53 runs and he went for 11 fours. Both his length and direction was poor.

This is the least experienced Australia attack for some years - perhaps since 1948 - and they seemed to struggle to come to terms with the famous slope at Lord's.

Alastair Cook reached his fifty from 73 balls, with 11 fours, and the 100 came up in 24.2 overs. The likeliest Australia bowler was Peter Siddle but even he got clobbered as he changed ends to look for some encouragement. By the interval, however, Andrew Strauss had reached 47, while Cook had motored his way to 67.