England hold Moeen hope

“But series are not played on paper or potential, it’s what people deliver out there”. “Australia are still probably favourites, they’ve only got to retain I suppose”.

Nevill has been with the 17-man squad since they departed for the West Indies in May.

Victory in new head coach Trevor Bayliss’s first match in charge gave them the early advantage in the Ashes series.

He was first to go, to a poor shot, pushing out on the back foot as he edged behind off Mitchell Starc for a second-ball duck.

“There’s always speculation when individual players don’t perform as well as we would like”, Clarke said. It is about our attitude and approach.

Both line-ups will be significantly different this time around, with just three Australian players from the 2013 match – Chris Rogers, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith – expected to be in the team tonight.

At the end of the game, the England man was the first to console Lee, who recalled: “He was trying to kill me out there for about for four hours – but five minutes after that game had finished we were in the changing room having a nice cold beer, chatting about what happened”. Another exciting Ashes Test match is on cards so do not miss out on action.

Uncapped Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid is on standby should Moeen fail to prove his fitness.

Johnson the bogeyman was tamed – at least for now – and England’s dashing young batsman Joe Root outshone Australia’s Steve Smith, who had entered the match as the No. 1 batsman in Test cricket.

“I have been a really good team-mate with Watto and a personal friend, too”, Lee, who played 76 Tests for Australia, told Press Association Sport. “I have every confidence he will walk out there and make runs”. Mitchell Starc has recovered from an injury and although it might be tempting to get in Pat Cummins, Australia might not yet go that far.

Clarke said: “He took eight wickets”.

And there were certainly big positives for England to take from such a comprehensive win at Cardiff. “But all our bowlers need to be more consistent”.

Otherwise, on a pitch of little pace and entirely even bounce, the dominance of bat over ball was utterly routine – and resulted in Australia’s highest second-wicket partnership at headquarters, this unbroken 259 beating Don Bradman and Bill Woodfull’s previous best 85 years ago.

Adam Lyth showed glimpses of good form in the second innings at Cardiff while Cook will hope his twin-failures at Cardiff were just minor hiccups. “We are in England and I don’t think it will be travelling through like Perth”. “I don’t have any doubts”, Broad said. “Generally at Lord’s, once the sun comes out, it is a good wicket to bat on”. “As always the next challenge starts tomorrow at Lord’s, which is a great place to play cricket”.

“But we have five days ahead of us now”.

One of the net bowlers for England in the build-up to this Test is the son of India great Sachin Tendulkar, the leading Test run-scorer in history.

If Watson regains form in Derby, Lehmann suggested he could be back in the Test XI during the Ashes.