England lived up to recent attacking mindset but Australia still have the edge

England captain Alastair Cook did his best to get things back under his control on Day 3 of the second Test against Australia. Ian Kington / AFP

The grin told the story as Mitchell Johnson spoke on Friday evening after Australia’s superb final session of the second day of the second Test at Lord’s.

“We were hoping they were going to come out and play their aggressive brand that they’ve been talking about,” Johnson said, when asked about England’s tactics in the match.

The Australians have clearly been entertained by England’s pre-series talk of attacking them at every opportunity and some mind games were at play as Johnson revelled in his side’s dominance in London.

England had quickly got on the backfoot in the field once it became clear they were not going to roll Australia over on a flat Lord’s wicket, and Alastair Cook was probably too defensive at times as Chris Rogers and Steven Smith batted with little pressure in notching up their respective big scores.

But, credit where it is due, England did respond to Johnson’s words and played aggressively yesterday, particularly through Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, as they sought to repair the damage of their collapse on Friday evening that had left Australia firmly in charge.

Possibly too aggressive as both Cook and Stokes played on to wide deliveries from Mitchell Marsh that they had no business playing. Ultimately, the bid to take the attack to Australia where possible was smart cricket in many ways, as by playing their strokes they kept the run rate moving along.

RELATED

Despite failing by 55 runs to reach the follow-on target, they at least have ensured Australia will have to bat a little longer before declaring today, when they will start their bid to bowl out the hosts for a second time and pick up a first Test win on English soil since August 2009.

It was unlikely that Michael Clarke was ever going to enforce the follow on, given the amount of time left in the match and the fact the wicket was still holding up so well.

The relatively comfortable morning for Cook and Stokes, who batted well for the first 90 minutes of the day, would have cemented the decision in the Australian captain’s mind.

Besides, the only way his team could possibly lose from the position they are in would be by making the home side bat again, have them make a better fist of it a second time around, and then collapse in chasing an uncomfortable total for victory.

Instead, openers David Warner and Rogers added an untroubled 108 in the final 26 overs of the day to make the lead 362 runs with two days to go.

It is hard now to see any other result than an Australian win. It is richly deserved, too.

Cricket is not a complicated game. If you bat and bowl better than your opponents then more often than not you are going to prevail and that is what Australia have done over the first three days at Lord’s.

Rogers and Smith batted superbly and the Australian pace attack, led by the excellent Josh Hazlewood, have consistently got more out of a wicket that has offered little assistance to the bowlers.

The wicket still looks very good for batting and England will still be hopeful of their chances of batting out 100 plus overs to save the game.

Cook, meanwhile, continues to put the woes of 2014 behind him and he deserved a century yesterday for his dogged 233-ball innings.

The tame manner of his dismissal was out of keeping with his knock, which will have helped his search for form.

England’s past three Ashes home series triumphs have all been built on some fighting rearguard performances with the bat, but if Cook’s men leave Lord’s tomorrow night still leading the five-match series then they would have pulled off the greatest escape of them all.

Follow us on Twitter at our new home at NatSportUAE