Flintoff bowled absolutely magnificently for the second day in a row. He gave warning of his intent by smacking Brad Haddin on the pads with his third ball which beat the Australian wicketkeeper with sheer pace. The next delivery enticed Haddin forward to edge low to Paul Collingwood at second slip. He had failed to add anything further to his overnight score of 80.

Mitchell Johnson started briskly enough with a drive for four off Anderson. Then he was struck on the pads by a low full toss from Flintoff which if it had not been judged a no ball would have hit the stumps .Michael Clarke on 125 not out was seemingly unfazed by the powerful England bowling attack and set about Stuart Broad, who had replaced James Anderson at the Nursery End, with gusto by hitting a boundary.

Johnson, similarly off-drove Broad for four to bring up the 350 for Australia, but unfortunately for the visitors they then lost Clarke, bowled for 136 by Graeme Swann’s second delivery of the morning. 

Freddie Flintoff, still bounding powerfully  in from the Pavilion End after more than an hour of high-pace bowling took out  Nathan Hauritz for one and Peter Siddle for seven. He was showing no sign of the injuries that have plagued him. Johnson, dropped on 36 was riding his luck, hitting a difficult return shot to Swann, who was unable to gather the ball. He continued to play his full range of shots while wickets continued to fall around him. He was the last man out, bowled by Swann for 63 which included nine boundaries.

Australia, who had resumed at 313 for five in their second innings chasing 522 for victory, were bowled out for 406 in the morning session. England won by 115 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

The 2009 Ashes test, is proving to be every much as dramatic as all cricket fans hoped and the standard of cricket being played by both England and Australia has been of the highest standard . The next enthralling episode of the series commences in ten days time at Edgbaston, Birmingham. We can not wait!

Siddle and Hauritz started off the morning with Australia on 156 for eight needing 70 to avoid the follow-on without it seemed too much of a worry.Hauritz reached 24 when he was caught by Paul Collingwood at third slip off Graham Onion’s third delivery of the morning. His partner Siddle struck five boundaries to reach his highest test innings score of 35 before being caught at first slip by Strauss off the same bowler.

The apparent ease with which Siddle and Hauritz took on England’s bowling attack, probably convinced Strauss not to force the Australians to follow on. As in recent times both Sri Lanka and South Africa have saved tests at Lord’s, after being asked to follow on, he was right to do so.

Strauss and Alastair Cook took to the crease, settling in with a solid score of 61runs in 56 minutes. Then off-spinner Nathan Hauritz struck the first Australian blow of the day with his first delivery after lunch. dismissing Cook lbw for 32.A matter of  eight balls later Strauss ,was out for the same score edging the ball for a simple catch to Michael Clarke at first slip.

Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara now had the task of driving the England cricket team’s innings on and Piertersen drove Hauritz for an excellent four but then seemed to struggle for any rhythm. Ravi Bopara was also stuttered against the accurate swing bowling from Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle. Bopara was lucky to survive a dropped catch at second slip from the Australian captain, Ponting on 11 off Siddle but was then caught for 27 off Hauritz at short-leg. After tea, Pietersen;’s laboured innings came to end at 44 when Brad Haddin, the Aussie wicket keeper, took a catch behind the stumps off of the bowling from Siddle.

The slow afternoon session was put behind them when the England pair Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior came together and injected some needed urgency into the proceedings. Collingwood smacking a low full toss ball from Hauritz, to leg for four. Prior then played what must be the shot of the day with an emphatic off-drive to the boundary, and then went on with a superb array of shots around the wicket. Prior further demonstrated his effectiveness with the sweep shot off Hauritz bringing up his half-century from only 37 balls. In one particular over Prior took sixteen runs from a Hauritz in a flurry of boundaries. However off the next ball, he went for a risky second run and lost out to an accurate throw from Marcus North taking down the stumps from deep backward point. Prior was out on 61.

The time came for the man of the hour to take to the crease and Andrew Flintoff strode out to a tumultuous applause for his final test innings at Lord’s. He got off the mark in typical Flintoff style with a massive pull for four. He then took Mitchell Johnson for four and had reached 30 not out at the end of play. Meanwhile Collingwood, unhindered like Flintoff of the need to be cautious with his wicket, hurried to reach his third fifty of the series in four innings before he was caught behind off Siddle for 54.

When rain ended play, England held an overall lead of 521.What will the England captain do tomorrow? Well once again that will depend very the much on the English weather. If it is overcast and dull with a little rain, he may decide to declare early and let his spinners loose on the Aussies or if fine with the pitch not offering anything to his seamer’s, the likelihood is that they will bat on. Time is on the host’s side and the drama of the 2009 Ashes series continues.

After an inauspicious start to the day, the England Cricket team now find themselves firmly in charge over the Australian visitors at the end of the second day’s play at Lord’s.

England’s hero from the first captain Andrew Strauss, was out the second ball of the day to a delivery from Ben Hilfenhaus hitting his off-stump. Strauss had amassed a total 161.Wickets fell in each of the next two overs with Graeme Swann (4) and Stuart Broad falling for 16 to Peter Siddle and Hilfenhaus respectively. Then Anderson returned with another cameo batting performance in which he contributed 29 runs to a last wicket stand of 47 ,England having had somewhat of a mini collapse  losing wickets in each of the three opening overs. England were eventually dismissed for 425 all out in the morning session.

England  fast bowler James Anderson then took centre stage when he struck with the third ball of his second over. Phillip Hughes gloved an attempt to  hook  to Matt Prior behind the stumps. He then captured the important wicket of  the innings when Australia captain Ricky Ponting was controversially caught at first slip by Andrew Strauss for two. Anderson’s original shout for lbw looked a good, however  umpire Rudi Koertzen, after consulting his colleague Billy Doctrove, ruled that Ponting had been caught. By now Anderson was bowling from the Nursery end with pace, aggression and late movement he then took four for 36 from 17 overs, supported most ably by the born again Andrew Flintoff.

For the first time ever at a Lord’s test match ,the floodlights were switched on  and for once with the rain coming to the Aussies aid  with the help of two rain they eventually reached 87 for two at tea with Simon Katich on 40 and Michael Hussey on 37.The left-handers continued after the break in an unaccustomed cautious manner, Hussey being the more adventurous, playing with fluent drives and deft flicks of the bat. The pair made a steady if unspectacular progress  to advance the Australian total to 103, when Stuart Broad took a hugely impressive  diving catch at fine-leg off Graham Onions to dismiss Katich for 48. Flintoff took a piece of the action by bowling Hussey for 51 and Michael Clarke (1) caught by Alastair Cook at short mid-wicket off Anderson.

Cook took two further leg-side catches off mistimed hooks from Mitchell Johnson (4) and Brad Haddin (28) and Australia were in deep trouble at the close. Pace bowler James Anderson had produced probably  his best bowling for England to date against Australia to help restrict the visitors to 156 for eight. and when play was called off for bad light, Australia still needed 70 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Australia have not lost a Test at the headquarters of world cricket since 1934, but a revitalised England bowling attack had humbled the cream of the Australian batting order to put them in a dominant position on the second day of the 2009 Ashes test at Lords. However you can never write off the Aussies and there are still three days to go and the hosts will have to keep their wits about them. The 2009 Ashes, is proving to be every muchh as enthralling as the  2005 Ashes, promising many more twists and turns before the famous Urn is presented to the winning team .

Flintoff has announced  he now planned to concentrate on one-day cricket and would like to play in the 50 over World Cup in 2011 and believes he still has a contribution to make and said “I’m giving up Test cricket, I’m not giving up cricket. I enjoy the shorter form of the game and I want to be the best I can.” The cynic might suspect that the greater financial awards now available in the IPL, might also have something to do with his decision.

At the start his Test career even he would acknowledge did not get off to the best of starts and it was only when he started  began to train seriously that he became a forced to be reckoned with. He became a true Test all-rounder under the tutoring of the new England captain, Michael Vaughan who  took over  in 2003.

Under Vaughan he was the leading England player in the unforgettable  2005 Ashes series test , scoring 402 runs and taking a remarkable 24 wickets. He was renowned  as a safe pair of hands  in the slips and became a folk hero to England  cricket fans with his aggressive fast bowling and crisp batting. After 2006 his form steadily declined in the Test arena and he has never quite reached the heights of 2005. when he was at his peak.

Andrew Strauss the current England captain said of  Freddie “He’s had a dramatic impact on English cricket over the last few years, the way he’s batted, the style in which he’s batted. For a long period he’s been probably one of the bowlers in world cricket that opposition batsmen least like facing.”

Whilst his statistics may not be in the most impressive, the big Lancashire all- rounder has a huge personality that has reached out to the cricket and non cricket fan alike. He has been became a hero to a new generation of boys taking  up the glorious game of cricket. The Andrew Flintoff story is not quite over yet, as I write it is not yet known if he will play a part in the Lord’s test, but the stage is set for him to play a significant part in ensuring the famous Urn, returns to the hosts.