Cricket statistician Mohandas Menon looks at the records to fall during the second Ashes Test between England and Australia at Lord's.
** New South Wales' 29-year-old Peter Nevill became the 33rd player to keep wicket for Australia in Tests. In comparison, England have fielded 66 during their history. Nevill also became the 443rd player to represent Australia in Tests.
** Chris Rogers (173) recorded his highest score in Tests and his first innings century was also his first 150+ score. Despite making his Test debut as a 30-year-old in 2008, each of his five Test 100s have come after the age of 35, with his maiden Test century registered in August 2013 at Chester-le-Street. This is the most by any Australian opener over the age of 35, beating Matthew Hayden’s previous record of four centuries after his 35th birthday.
** Rogers, unbeaten on 158 at the close of the opening day, made the second highest score by an Australian on the first day of a Test match at Lord's. The record he was gunning for? Warren Bardsley’s 173 way back in June 1926.
** At 37 years, 319 days old, Rogers also became the 2nd oldest Aussie opener after Bardsley, who was 43 years, 201 days old during his the aforementioned knock.
** Rogers, now with 1,157 runs, joins Don Bradman (1,188 – below), as only the second Australian to aggregate 1,000+ runs after the age of 35 in Ashes Tests.
** Australia's 337-1 is now the 2nd highest score by any visiting side on the opening day of a Lord's Test match. They fell short of their own record 338-8 made in that 1926 Test.
** Steven Smith's 215 was his 10th Test hundred and his highest score so far, the landmark coming in his 57th innings. For Australia, only Don Bradman (23), Arthur Morris (36) and Neil Harvey (40) needed less innings to reach their respective 10th Test century.
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** Smith, meanwhile, became the 17th Test batsman to register a 200+ score at Lord’s and the third Australian to do so, following in the footsteps of Don Bradman (254 in June 1930) and Bill Brown (206* in June 1938).
** Only the Adelaide Oval (20) and the Kennington Oval in London (19), has registered more 200+ scores in Test cricket history than Lord’s.
** Smith’s double is the first by an Aussie batsman in an ‘away’ Test match since Jason Gillespie’s 201* (below) as a night-watchman at Chittagong against Bangladesh in April 2006. Since Gillespie’s innings, Australia have played 47 matches away from home.
** Smith’s 58 in the second innings also meant he became only the third Aussie batsman – after Jack Ryder (201* & 88 at Adelaide, in January 1925) and Don Bradman (244 & 77 at The Oval, in August 1934) – to make a double century and fifty in the same Ashes Test.
** The 284-run partnership between Rogers and Smith is Australia’s best ever for any wicket at Lord’s. The previous record was the 260-run stand between Mark Taylor and Michael Slater in June 1993, which was for the opening wicket.
** Ben Stokes, who became the 16th batsman by be dismissed for “87" by Australian bowlers in Tests, also became the 87th batman in Test history to be dismissed on the score of “87”. Spooky!
** Alastair Cook’s first innings 96 was his seventh score in the nineties, making him his nation’s leading man to end an innings in the nineties. He surpassed the previous English record of six, held by Sir Geoffrey Boycott. Cook’s seven 90s include three scores of 94, two 95s and two more 96s.
** For the fifth time in his career, James Anderson (33-4-137-0) went wicket-less in a Test match. It was by far the worst performance of his illustrious Test career, surpassing his record of 30-4-111-0 against South Africa at Johannesburg in January 2010.
** Anderson, the leading Test wicket-taker at Lord’s with 75, went wicket-less for the first time in his 18 Tests at the Home of Cricket.
** Nevill made a near perfect Test debut, not only registering 45 with the bat (the 4th highest by an Aussie wicket-keeper in debut innings), but also claiming seven catches.
** Australia's victory by 405-runs was the ninth largest in terms of runs in Test history and the 4th largest in an Ashes match. It was their fifth largest in all Tests. It was also the second largest margin of victory in terms of runs in any Lord’s Test match. The highest is the 409-run win by Don Bradman’s ‘Invincibles’ of 1948.
** During his career as Test captain, Michael Clarke has had four opportunities to enforce the follow-on, but choose not to do so on each occasion. It has proven an excellent decision in every instance, Australia winning all four of those Tests.
Post script
England’s total 415 runs in this Test match were surpassed by two Aussie batsmen – Steve Smith and Chris Rogers – who posted 495 between them. Ouch!
