Benedict Bermange has all the facts while Lucy Verasamy's got the lowdown on the weather at Lord's.
The Ashes in numbers every day with Benedict
Sky Sports' cricket stats man Benedict Bermange will be here throughout the summer to bring you the statistical lowdown on the battle for the Ashes.
Benedict has teamed up with skysports.com to bring you the best stats ahead of each day's play and to give you a few pointers on what to look out for during Sky Sports' comprehensive Ashes coverage.
And if you have any questions or queries that you'd like Benedict to look into, just fill out the comment form at the bottom of the page and he'll answer your questions.
Second Test, Day One - Lord's
England have not beaten Australia at Lord's since 1934, when Hedley Verity took match figures of15-104 after Maurice Leyland and Les Ames had both scored centuries.
Since then, they have met 18 times at Lord's with Australia winning nine and the other nine matches drawn. However, England have only lost one of their last 11 Tests at Lord's (to Australia in 2005).
Let's put this in context. Back in 1934:
-
The last US Marines left Haiti
- James Crawford, the last surviving Crimean War veteran to have been nursed by Florence Nightingale, died at the age of 104
-
The last Hawaiian Moho bird (became extinct
Top effort
Ricky Ponting needs 65 runs to overtake Allan Border and become Australia's highest Test run scorer of all time:
| Name |
Matches |
Inns |
NO |
Runs |
HS |
Avg |
100 |
50 |
| AR Border |
156 |
265 |
44 |
11,174 |
205 |
50.56 |
27 |
63 |
| RT Ponting |
132 |
222 |
26 |
11,110 |
257 |
56.68 |
38 |
46 |
This is Ponting's 58th match as captain of Australia moving him ahead of Steve Waugh into second place. Allan Border captained 93 Tests, but only won 32 of them, whereas Ponting has already won 38 (Waugh won 41).
Paul Collingwood will be playing his 50th Test Match for England. He is the 57th man to reach this milestone.
Of the touring party, only Ponting (2), Clarke, Katich and the injured Lee (2) have played in a Test at Lord's. Since the first-ever Lord's Test in 1884, only twice have the Aussies had so few Test caps at Lord's than the maximum of 4 they will have for this match:
| Year |
Lord's caps |
Players |
| 1930 |
2 |
Bill Woodfull (1), Bert Oldfield (1) |
| 1972 |
3 |
Ian Chappell (1), Doug Walters (1), John Gleeson (1) |
Decision day
The second batsman to be dismissed lbw in this Test will be the 500th to be dismissed in that manner in Test cricket at Lord's in what will be the 118th Test to be played there.
Since 2000, spinners have only taken 17% of all Test wickets at Lord's:
| Type |
Balls |
Runs |
Wkts |
Avge |
Runs per over |
SR |
| Pace |
28,399 |
15,670 |
461 |
33.99 |
3.31 |
61.60 |
| Spin |
7,947 |
4,019 |
96 |
41.86 |
3.03 |
82.78 |
Official landmark
After becoming the first umpire to stand in 200 ODIs when he officiated between Ireland and Kenya in Dublin last Saturday,
Rudi Koertzen becomes the second man to umpire 100 Test Matches.
| Umpire |
Span |
Matches |
| Steve Bucknor (WI) |
1989-2009 |
128 |
| Rudi Koertzen (SA) |
1992-2009 |
100 |
| David Shepherd (Eng) |
1985-2005 |
92 |
| Daryl Harper (Aus) |
1998-2009 |
83 |
| Darrel Hair (Aus) |
1992-2008 |
78 |
LUCY'S WEATHER WATCH
I think there will be a decent amount of play today. There's plenty of cloud overhead this morning and it may be reluctant to break but there will be some bright spells rather than prolonged warm sunshine. Bear in mind that there is an outside chance of a few showers in the area but if a shower does float its way into Lord's it won't be too significant or substantial. So in summary, there shouldn't be a major disruption today but sunshine may be in short supply. Expect a high of around 23 or 24 degrees.
