Aussie concerns ahead of Lord's Test

Australia will travel to London later today (Monday) aiming to square the Test series one-all and avoid a hat-trick of Ashes defeats at the Home of Cricket.

Lord’s was Australia’s home away from home in the 20th century, with the tourists losing just once from 25 Tests.

Their only defeat came in 1934 when Bill Woodfull’s side featuring a 26-year-old Don Bradman was thumped by an innings and 38 runs on a sticky wicket.

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The streak continued into the millennium thanks to eight wickets from champion fast bowler Glenn McGrath in 2001 and nine more in 2005, taking the pace ace’s wicket tally to 26 in three Tests at the revered venue.

But in the last two visits to their foreign fortress, Australia have been trounced by the hosts, starting with a 115-run spanking in 2009 before a 347-run demolition four years later.

The latter was a match viewed by many as a nadir for Australian cricket in modern times, with Michael Clarke's side emphatically humbled before the true rebuilding period began under Darren Lehmann.

Sandwiched in between the last two heavy losses against England at Lord’s was a 150-run thrashing of Pakistan in the Marylebone Cricket Club Spirit of Cricket series in 2010 – a Test that saw Tim Paine keep wickets, Marcus North and Shane Watson take six and five scalps respectively and a young blond leg-spinner named Steve Smith make his Test debut.

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Australia enter the 2015 edition in the same position on the scoreboard as they were two years ago, though the nature of the first Test defeats couldn’t be more different.

While the tourists were hammered in Cardiff, Michael Clarke’s men went down in a thriller at Trent Bridge in a match that will be remembered as much for Ashton Agar’s stunning 98 at No.11 on debut as it will for umpire Aleem Dar’s not out call when Stuart Broad edged the lanky debutant to first slip and stood his ground.

And it’s a familiar feel for the hosts, who for the second series running have won the first Test in emphatic fashion after defeating New Zealand at Thursday’s venue to mark the new dawn of English cricket.

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But the feel good vibes lasted only one Test following a crushing defeat at Headingley in the next and final Test of the series, losing by 199 runs and squaring the highly-entertaining series against Brendon McCullum’s free-spirited charges one-all.

A series further back, England drew the first Test in the Caribbean before taking the second match in Grenada in fine style, winning by nine wickets with Cardiff’s man-of-the-match Joe Root making an unbeaten 182.

But after taking a first innings lead of 68 runs in the third Test in Barbados, England were humbled for 123 in the second innings to leave a target of 192 that was happily chased by the home side, who got home by five wickets and levelled the series.

It was that loss, and England’s group stage exit from the 2015 Cricket World Cup in March, that led to Peter Moores’ second stint as England head coach coming to an end, along with the international retirement of former Test stalwart Jonathan Trott.

Trevor Bayliss was hired as Moores’ replacement and encouraged the aggressive brand of cricket England displayed against the Black Caps that put Australia on the back foot in the Welsh capital and delivered a series lead.

Now it’s onto the English capital, where captain Clarke will be hoping one recent trend can continue, while another can be put to an end.