Australian papers bite back as England are dominated at Lord's

The tone in the Australian press was much more positive after England's bowlers were put to the sword on the opening day of the second Investec Test at Lord's.

Chris Rogers and Steve Smith made imperious centuries in a record partnership, setting up the likelihood of a monster score for England to try and chase down.

Here is what our friends from Australia thought of Thursday's rather one-sided play...

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Centurion Smith was particularly critical of Alastair Cook's defensive fields, feeling a little bit surprised at the way the England captain went into his shell. He said: "Look, I was a little bit surprised that Trevor Bayliss would allow Alastair Cook to have a deep point for as long as he did today to be honest. I think it was a good pitch to bat on but they got defensive quite quickly. I know that's one thing we're certainly not going to do." The SMH followed that up with their own simple comment on Smith's reaction - 'Boom, Cop that!'

OOPS! Former Aussie Rules player Campbell Brown was thrown off the Lord's pitch before play started as he was wearing someone else's accreditation. Brown was at the match after trying, and failing, to swim the English Channel for the Shane Warne Foundation. He had to be pulled out of the water after more than nine hours because of a rapid change in conditions.

THE HERALD SUN

An unsurprisingly positive report on the opening day at Lord's, described as their 'best first day of Test cricket in England since the Bradman era.'

There is also talk of Australia wanting an explanation why Jimmy Anderson is constantly being allowed to run down the wicket on his follow through. Anderson was warned at Cardiff last week and spoken to by Marais Erasmus on Thursday morning, with accusations that it is a 'questionable tactic.'

Rumours too that England were set to go with Adil Rashid as their spin option at Lord's but he complained of an abrasion on his spinning finger and Moeen Ali was restored to the side despite not being 100 per cent fit because of a side strain.

BRISBANE TIMES

Columnist Greg Baum paid fitting tribute to Rogers and Smith, being especially impressed by the 146 runs the pair scored after tea. We also liked his scorecard line for David Warner's ridiculous dismissal - 'Warner, caught Warner, bowled Warner!'

ADELAIDE ADVERTISER

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has told Shane Watson not to think of his Lord's axing as the end of his Test career. Lehmann said: "Obviously, Shane has been a little bit disappointing with his runs and it's a tight call. He's been an experienced player for us. Mitch Marsh has done everything we could ask for behind the scenes and in the first two tour games, and he's in good form (scoring two hundreds). It was a tight call first Test and we went with experience. This Test, we've gone with Mitch Marsh. It's a tough call on Shane but I'm sure he's got plenty of cricket left in him."

Apparently our own media has been trying to play up a feud between Aussie openers Rogers and Warner (how dare they!). Although we are told they aren't particularly close off the pitch, they are more than professional on it, and it appears no worse friends than brothers Steve and Mark Waugh.

THE AGE

The one negative of the day for Australia was the soft Warner dismissal. If he hadn't been removed by Moeen, who knows what the end-of-play score might have been. Chris Barrett describes him as having "found himself traipsing back through the Long Room past the bacon-and-egg brigade far earlier than he would have like, and with only himself really to blame." Do they serve bacon and eggs in the Long Room?