Second Test, 1948 Ashes Series - 24 June: Day One

24 June: Day One

At 8:00 on the morning of the Test, there was a storm to the south of London but the rain did not reach Lord's, which was located in the north of the English capital. The first over bowled by Bedser to Barnes was watchfully played to complete a maiden. The debutant Coxon opened the bowling with Bedser and he removed Barnes for a duck in his second over, caught by Hutton at short fine leg from a short delivery to leave Australia 3/1. Barnes tried to knock the ball through square leg but misjudged the pace of the wicket and played his shot too early, mishitting the ball to Hutton. Coxon bowled from very close to the wickets and left substantial footmarks just outside the right-hander's leg stump in an area ideal for a leg spinner. Although he was not of particularly fast pace, Coxon ran in vigorously and landed heavily after a pronounced delivery stride, making a significant impact on the surface. Bradman received a loud, positive reception from the crowd as he came out to bat in his final Test at Lord's.

Bradman initially struggled against the English bowling. He faced his first ball from Coxon and inside edged it past his leg stump, before missing the third ball from Coxon and surviving a loud appeal for leg before wicket (lbw). Bowling from the other end, Bedser beat Bradman with seam movement off the pitch and one ball narrowly skimmed past the stumps. Standing up to the stumps, wicket-keeper Godfrey Evans removed the bails as Bradman leaned forward, but his foot had stayed firmly behind the crease. In another close call, Bradman inside edged a ball towards Yardley at short leg, but the English captain was slow to react and the ball landed in front of him. The Australian captain managed only three runs in the first 20 minutes and Australia had scored only 14 after the first 30 minutes. Coxon consistently moved the ball into a cautious Bradman, and the Australians scored only 32 runs in the first hour.

Edrich then relieved Coxon, who had bowled his first seven overs in Test cricket for the loss of only 10 runs. Edrich bowled a bouncer, which Bradman tried to swing to the leg side, but the leading edge instead went in the air and landed behind point. On 13, Bradman leg glanced a Bedser ball from his legs, narrowly evading Hutton in the trap at short fine leg. After one hour, he was on 14. Bradman had fallen twice for the leg trap in the previous Test. Bedser continued to the probe the Australian captain with inswingers, trying to extract a lofted leg glance in the vicinity if the waiting Hutton. In contrast, Morris was playing fluently and scoring many runs from the back cut.

Bedser was relieved after 70 minutes of bowling. The leg spin of Wright was introduced and Australia cut loose. Wright bowled a no ball that Morris dispatched into the leg side crowd for six, before hitting another ball for four. Bradman and Morris settled down as Coxon and Wright operated. The Australian captain drove the debutant Coxon through the covers for two fours, and Yardley made frequent rotations of his bowlers. Coxon continued to significantly rough up the pitch outside the right-handed batsman's leg stump, and from the other, Wright was able to extract substantial spin on the first morning of the match, hitting Morris in the stomach with a ball that turned in sharply from outside off stump. At lunch, Australia were 82/1 with Morris on 45 and Bradman 35. The tourists had largely been content to wait for loose deliveries, rather than take risks, and as the Englishmen bowled accurately, the Australians did not score quickly.

In the third over after the lunch break, with the score at 87, Bradman was caught for the third consecutive time in the series by Hutton off Bedser at short fine leg. Hutton had dropped Bradman in the same position when he was on 13. Including a county match against Yorkshire, it was the fourth time Hutton had caught Bradman in the leg trap from a glance. According to O'Reilly, this was evidence that Bradman was no longer the player he was before World War II, as he had been unable to disperse the close-catching fielders by counter-attacking, before eventually being dismissed. O'Reilly said this was the first time Bradman had fallen to the same trap three times in succession.

Hassett came to the crease to join Morris, with the new ball already due. Still using the old ball, Bedser beat Hassett second ball with a delivery that moved back in, but the appeal for lbw was turned down. However, Yardley opted to not take the ball, and Hassett managed to score a single and get off strike before the English captain called for a replacement ball. O'Reilly said the failure to take the new ball immediately after the appeal was a missed opportunity to maximise the psychological pressure on Hassett.

After a slow start, Morris had begun to take control. He drove the ball through the covers and clipped it through the leg side, and reached his century with consecutive boundaries from Coxon soon after the new ball was taken. Former Australian Test opener Jack Fingleton, covering the tour as a newspaper journalist, called it "a pretty Test century in the grandest of all cricket settings". The century ended a poor run of form for Morris earlier in the tour, when he had been shuffling uncertainly on the crease without decisively moving forward or back. O'Reilly called it Morris's best Test century to date, as this was the strongest English attack he had faced during his career, and because of the loss of wickets at the other end. O'Reilly said Morris had been disciplined in not playing loose shots outside off stump and missing or edging them, yet still being able to score quickly at every opportunity.

Morris was out soon after for 105 runs with the score at 166/3, having struck 14 fours and one six. His innings, which was noted for powerful, well-placed cover drives, ended when he hit Coxon to Hutton in the gully. Miller came in and Bedser bowled three consecutive outswingers to him. A fourth ball swung the other way, and Miller did not offer a shot, expecting the ball to curve away and miss the stumps. Instead, he was hit in front of the wickets and given out lbw for four. O'Reilly said Miller's display was more akin to that of a tail-end batsman with minimal skill, and blamed his poor form with the bat on an excessive workload imposed on him by Bradman. With two quick wickets, England had put the match back in the balance. Batting out of position in the middle-order, Brown came in at 173/4 and helped Hassett to rebuild the innings. Both scored slowly, averaging more than three and a half minutes for each run. They realised Australia could not afford to lose any more wickets quickly and batted with extreme caution, reluctant even to attack long hops. Hassett was dropped three times before Yardley, who was bowling mainly in order to allow his frontline bowlers to recuperate, broke through his defences with a yorker. The English skipper trapped Brown lbw nine runs later to leave Australia at 225/6. Brown had hit two consecutive half-volleys off his pads through the leg side for four, and attempted a third boundary in a row to a similar delivery. However, this third delivery came off the pitch more quickly and beat Brown for pace.

This left Johnson and Tallon as the new men at the crease. Johnson struggled to score, while Tallon did so freely in the last hour. Edrich had Johnson caught behind for four to leave Australia at 246/7. Johnson had contributed only four of the 30 runs scored while he was at the crease. Lindwall joined Tallon and the pair survived to the close of play. England were well placed when Australia ended at stumps on 258/7 with Tallon on 25 and Lindwall on 3. Tallon had dominated the scoring late in the day, making 25 of the 33 runs added. Bowes believed that Yardley attacked very well, keeping the pressure on Australia by rotating his bowlers effectively so his three main bowlers were always at the crease. O'Reilly praised Evans's agile display in his stumping attempts as the fastest and best he had seen. The English crowd were optimistic about England's position and some of them immediately camped outside the turnstiles upon leaving the ground. Arlott said England's "bowlers had done nobly".