Seamers spare Australian XI batter blushes

The Australian XI hold the upper hand after two days against the England Lions but their grip on the match could have been tighter had it not been for a rapid collapse in the morning session.

Tim Paine's side lost 6-17 in 47 balls to be bowled out for 397 with England Ashes aspirant Sam Curran the chief destroyer, taking 5-25 in the morning to finish with 6-95 in front of selectors Ed Smith and James Taylor.

It's the second time on the Australia A tour the visitors have suffered a collapse – they lost 7-60 against Sussex in Arundel last week.

Sam Curran finished with 6-95 // Getty

Australia's 2015 Ashes tour was marred by batting collapses, with the little urn effectively lost after Michael Clarke's team were bowled out for 136 at Edgbaston and 60 at Trent Bridge in back-to-back Tests.

Second-drop Travis Head watched the carnage unfold in Canterbury as he added just nine to his overnight total to walk off the field unbeaten on 139 to move closer towards an Ashes berth.

"We spoke in the morning about the importance of what we did yesterday to drive it home and make sure we got a really big first innings score so we could dominate the game and we weren't able to do that," Head said after play.

"Without pointing out the obvious, it's a disappointment.

"We get a second opportunity to try and do better."

The Australian bowlers toiled hard on Monday to have the Lions 6-232 at stumps, trailing by 165 runs, with Curran 32 not out.

New-ball pair Jackson Bird (2-36) and Chris Tremain (2-69) were the pick of the visiting bowlers, with allrounder Mitch Marsh collecting 1-38 while spinner Jon Holland picked up the wicket of former Australia U19 player Sam Hain to end the day's play.

Tremain took two wickets in successive overs // Getty

Depending on which side you were on, it was either a dream or nightmare of a morning.

After Marsh struck a few lusty blows he was given out caught behind having seemingly edged a full ball from Curran with his bat brushing the turf at the point of impact. The umpire promptly raised his index finger to the shock of Marsh, who lingered at the crease before beginning a slow march back to the pavilion, shaking his head in disagreement.

Marsh's wicket sparked the stunning collapse as Curran ripped through the lower order from round the wicket of the Pavilion End at Canterbury's St Lawrence Ground.

Curran had Paine trapped in front for a five-ball duck, Michael Neser edging to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes without scoring, Tremain castled two balls later and clean bowled Bird after the seamer struck a couple of boundaries.

The left-armer had 5-25 in 32 minutes and it didn't take long for skipper Lewis Gregory to bowl No.11 Holland to end the innings one delivery shy of 100 overs.

Ball continued to dominate bat as Bird bowled Kent opener Zak Crawley in the seventh over. There are only two kinds of leaves in cricket: good and bad. Evans' against Bird was the bad kind.

Michael Neser bowled just seven of the 77.5 overs bowled // Getty

Australia's fast bowlers took a little while to adjust to the dramatic slope of the ground but once they did they proved potent and difficult to score off.

The visitors should have walked off for lunch with two Lions wickets but Joe Burns, who put down two catches against Sussex, dropped Sibley on three at second slip, denying Tremain his maiden wicket on tour.

Adapting to Canterbury slope key, says Tremain

The Victoria wouldn't have to wait too much longer to add to his barren wicket tally when he extracted an edge from the bat of Foakes that was gladly accepted by his opposite gloveman Paine.

Tremain doubled his tour haul in his next over, agains finding the edge, this time from Sam Northeast to Marcus Harris at third slip.

As Matthew Wade audibly pronounced on the field, the 'boys were humming', but the dominance didn't equate to wickets as the sun broke through overcast skies and Sibley and James Bracey built a solid partnership.

Marsh got the key wicket of Dom Sibley // Getty

Their stand of 89 lasted more than two hours either side of the tea break before Kurtis Patterson held on to a sharp chance at backward point to dismiss Bracey for 37.

Both set batsmen were back in the pavilion eight overs later when Marsh trapped Sibley in front for a well-made 74 that took four hours to construct.

Wade let out a loud 'he's on here' after Marsh ended his follow-through near the batsman for Hain's first ball, and while the energy was up in the field further wickets were hard to find.

Curran and Hain knuckled down for the final hour, picking off the bad ball and hitting a six each off the miserly Jon Holland (1-37 from 21.5 overs) and the part-time off-spin of Head.

Day 1: Wade, Head tons push Ashes case

But in the final over of the day, Holland had Hain caught behind for 39 to give the spinner reward for a controlled performance all day.

Day three is set to be an intriguing day, the final day for the Lions players to impress before the team for England's Test against Ireland and an Ashes training squad is announced on Wednesday.

Australia XI: Joe Burns, Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (c & wk), Michael Neser, Chris Tremain, Jackson Bird, Jon Holland.

England Lions: Zac Crawley, Dom Sibley, Sam Hain, Sam Northeast, James Bracey, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Lewis Gregory (c), Olli Robinson, Jack Leach, Jamie Porter.

Australia A tour of the UK

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by five wickets

July 2: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by nine runs

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A beat Sussex by 10 wickets, Arundel

July 13-16: Australian XI v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire