James Anderson, whose abundant natural talent has been sometimes undermined by a fragile temperament, gave England a glimpse on Friday of a first victory over Australia at Lord's since 1934. Anderson on song bends the ball wickedly late both ways at a brisk pace. Denied swing, or when his rhythm deserts him, his head can droop and he becomes an expensive liability. The former Anderson was on view at Lord's on Friday during a gripping second day which ended with Australia on 156 for eight, still requiring 70 runs to avoid the follow-on with two wickets in hand. Anderson, in common with the rest of the England attack, bowled poorly in the first Test in Cardiff. But he also combined with Monty Panesar in an improbable last wicket stand to deny Australia victory on the final day. On Friday he came to the crease while England was forfeiting three wickets in the first three overs of the day, including captain Andrew Strauss bowled second ball without adding to his overnight tally of 161. Anderson took five boundaries off Mitchell Johnson, whose three wickets cost 132 runs. When he was out for 29 his last wicket stand with Graham Onions had yielded 47 runs and taken England to 425. He then took two quick wickets to reduce Australia to 10 for two and returned in the evening session to capture two more top-order batsman and finish with four for 36 from 17 quality overs. One of his victims was Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who accumulated 150 in Cardiff. Ponting had scored two when Anderson slanted a delivery into his pads and appealed for lbw. The ball flew to Strauss at first slip who appealed to umpire Rudi Koertzen for a catch. After deliberating with colleague Billy Doctrove to see if the ball had carried, Koertzen upheld the appeal. “I was originally going up for lbw and I knew there were two noises,” Anderson explained. “We thought the other noise was the bat. I wasn't going for the catch, the other guys were going for the catch.” Five of the Australian batsmen were dismissed attempting a hook shot, including Marcus North who dragged an Anderson delivery on to this stumps before he had scored. While Anderson tested the Australian batsmen from the Nursery end, Andrew Flintoff thundered in with the Pavilion behind him during 12 hostile overs which earned him the wicket of top scorer Michael Hussey (51). “It worked well and the ends helped,” Anderson said. Hussey, who scored only three in Cardiff after a run of low scores, batted with application and a controlled array of shots before Flintoff plucked out his off-stump. “We had a great start but we couldn't get that last wicket,” Hussey said. Anderson said England would assess the conditions in the morning to see if they were in a position to enforce the follow-on. “If there's a bit of cloud around we may,” he said.
