The Ashes: Fightback not enough with Aussies on top

England, meanwhile, have plenty to ponder before the next match.

The tourists bounced back from a 169-run loss in Cardiff, thumping England by 405 runs at Lord’s on Sunday.

“When we win, the captain gets the plaudits and when you lose the captain gets the negative stuff, and that is part and parcel of the job”.

“It’s not good enough, just not acceptable”, Cook said.

“It’s just trying to work out what happens moving forward, and we hope he’ll be available for the Derby game”. It is 1-1 and it is all to play for now.

The only concern for Australia was the sight of Chris Rogers having to retire due to a dizzy spell in the morning.

“It’s on the mind of anyone when the team is not playing like you would like, those things are always in the back of the coach’s and selectors’ minds”, he said.

And he made special mention of the bowler who is fast becoming England’s bogeyman: “Mitchell (Johnson) is a great weapon to have in your team”.

The mild-mannered Aussie reckons his players don’t deserve a rocket despite slumping to a shameful defeat in the second Investec Ashes Test on Sunday.

As much as England fans wished that the man who took 3-200 six years ago would be the one to turn up this time, it didn’t really stack up. England had chosen to prepare a pitch to try and blunt the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc.

“Pressure of that magnitude can make and break people, so finger’s crossed it’s the former as we simply can’t afford for them not to score big runs”.

England will mull similar moves but the smart money is on an unchanged side taking the field in the third Test at Edgbaston as they seek to establish continuity and stability at the start the Cook/Bayliss era.

It was Cook’s 96 that had helped to give England’s first innings relative substance, and they lost another feasible saviour when Gary Ballance was third out – caught behind again when Mitch Marsh found extra bounce with his first delivery after mid-session drinks.

Australia won the toss and chose to bat on a flat pitch at Lord’s.

Veteran Haddin had to miss Lord’s for personal reasons, but was able to undertake his wicketkeeping drills during the match.

Ian Bell is in awful form and it showed as he struggled against the pace attack.

The energetic Marsh chipped in with key wickets at Lord’s while Nevill had a fine match with the gloves and scored a useful 45 in the first innings. A direct throw by Johnson resulted in his run out, with both bat and his feet in the air when the stumps were disturbed.

The wickets tumbled even more quickly as the tail was exposed, with only Stuart Broad showing any defiance with 25, but the England second innings lasted only 37 overs.

“Australia got ahead from pretty much ball one and they never let us back in”.

“We didn’t take those catches which we did in Cardiff, and we did not get big hundreds”.