Watson strikes to stall England momentum

Shane Watson took two wickets in four balls to halt England's steady start at Lord's in the second NatWest Series match against Australia.

England had moved to 74 without loss in their run chase until Watson trapped Ravi Bopara lbw in his first over. Then in his next, he had Matt Prior caught behind for a single.

Captain Andrew Strauss was caught and bowled by Nathan Hauritz three short of his fifty, and at the halfway stage the hosts were 127 for four. Owais Shah was dismissed cheaply, getting run out when Paul Collingwood called for a single after nudging into the off side.

England were set 250 to win after an Australian innings that lacked a batsman going on to make a big total, only Callum Ferguson reaching the half-century mark. It meant back-to-back 50s for the South Australia batsman. But the 24-year-old lacked support from his middle order, after openers Watson and Tim Paine got the tourists off to a solid start.

They went fairly untroubled until Luke Wright helped make the breakthrough with a stunning catch to dismiss Watson before taking the wicket of Paine, who was caught in the deep.

When Wright then had Australia captain Michael Clarke gloving behind down the leg-side, the momentum was with England after a burst of three wickets for 11 runs.

Ferguson and Cameron White steadied Australia with a 69-run partnership before the golden arm of Ravi Bopara struck. With his first ball, Bopara had White (42) caught behind by Prior - who was standing up to the medium-pacer.

England were sharing the wickets around, and next to strike was Graeme Swann, with a perfectly-pitched off-break which defeated left-hander Michael Hussey and hit off-stump. James Hopes also went cheaply to Swann, this time sweeping to go lbw.

England looked in control when Ferguson was bowled off his pads by James Anderson. But Mitchell Johnson finished the innings off with 43 from 23 balls, including a deft sweep off Anderson and a powerful blow through mid-wicket in the same over.

It was a team effort from England to restrict Australia to 249 for eight, particularly with Stuart Broad ruled out through injury.