After an enthralling first Test victory at Edgbaston last week, Australia will look to take a 2-0 lead over England when the Ashes series heads to the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground this Wednesday.
England were made to pay for their inability to knock over all 20 wickets in the first Test, coming up agonisingly short as Pat Cummins steered his side to their narrowest Ashes win since 1907.
Match preview
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After winning the toss and opting to bat first at Edgbaston, the hosts were given a solid platform to build on, with Zak Crawley scoring 61 from 73 balls at the top of the order before he was joined by Joe Root, who went on to score 118 from just 152 balls.
Root's ton in the first innings and 46 off 55 in the second saw him leapfrog Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Steve Smith to regain the world's number-one Test batsman ranking.
However, Ben Stokes did come under scrutiny in the week for what many onlookers considered an early declaration in the first innings while Root was still at the crease, with Ollie Robinson holding up the other end on 17 runs from 31 balls.
While the risks of their famous Bazball style of play showed itself in the second innings, with no batsman managing to score more than 46 runs, the greater issue for the hosts was their bowling attack which was evidently short of genuine pace and without a world-class spinner.
Stokes and Brendon McCullum will have plenty to ponder ahead of the second Test, particularly around the type of pitch that they want to request, as they need to search for the sweet spot between giving their explosive batting lineup the best chance of scoring quickly while ensuring that they do not entirely alienate their bowlers at the same time.
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In addition to the in-game war of words we have already witnessed, there have also been plenty of off-the-field mind games going on since the first Test, with several Aussie players mentioning that their opponents' cavalier approach will ultimately lead to their demise at Lord's as it did at Edgbaston.
While the visitors were arguably nowhere near their best in the last match, they showed why they are the best Test side in world cricket at the moment as Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey stepped up in a big way, scoring 141 and 66 respectively, in the first innings after the likes of David Warner, Smith and Labuschagne failed to score more than 25 runs between them.
In the second innings, it was Cummins that caught the eye as the skipper picked up four wickets for only 63 runs in 18.2 overs before delivering a match-winning performance with the bat, scoring 44 of 73 balls to win the match by two wickets and with just 27 balls to spare.
Nathan Lyon stood firm with his captain in a nail-biting finish, and he not only played his part in the 55-run ninth-wicket partnership that ultimately won the match but is also the leading wicket-taker in the series, bagging eight wickets in the opening match.
The World Test champions are clearly in the ascendancy as far as team balance and stability go, and heading to a Lord's pitch that is likely to be more active than the one in Birmingham, their bowling attack should benefit from a track that more closely resembles the ones they are used to back home.
Team News
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The major concern for England in this match will be over the availability of Moeen Ali, whose dramatic return to Test cricket proved eventful, to say the least, as the spinner first picked up an injury to his finger and was later fined for using a spray to dry his hands rather than using a towel in an attempt to avoid friction.
With Ali's ability to play the next match in some doubt, Stokes and McCullum have opted to call up leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed as cover for Ali after the teenager made a splash on his debut against Pakistan last year, where he took seven wickets.
Mark Wood and all-rounder Chris Woakes are expected to feature in this series; however, it will be difficult to leave out Stuart Broad, who was the one likely to make way, as he was arguably the pick of the England bowlers in the first Test.
Meanwhile, Australia have also made a change to their squad, with Jimmy Pierson joining them as the backup wicketkeeper while Josh Inglis will be heading back home for the birth of his first child.
With rain predicted in London this week, Cummins may be tempted to reinstate Mitchell Starc to the bowling attack to add pace and swing in favourable conditions for the left-hander, with Scott Boland being the most likely to drop out after failing to make much of an impression in the first match.
England squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (capt), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc
Series so far
First Test: Australia won by two wickets
England - 393/8d and 273
Australia - 386 and 282/8
We say: Australia to win
While the first match went down to the wire, there was an evident gulf in class between the sides, particularly in the bowling department.
Heading to Lord's, where we are likely to see more movement off the pitch, the Aussies' superior bowling lineup could be the difference here and should carry them to victory as long as the rain does not intervene too much.
Devesh Jaganath
