Smith gets his century but England fight back in second Test

Friday, 30 June 2023 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Australia’s Steve Smith celebrates his century on day two of the second Ashes cricket Test match between England and Australia at Lord’s cricket ground in London on 29 June 2023 - AFP

LONDON, AFP: Steve Smith returned to form with a century for Australia, but England hit back to dismiss the tourists for 416 in the second Test at Lord's on Thursday.

Smith had flopped with scores of 16 and six during Australia's thrilling two-wicket win in the first Test at Edgbaston last week as the Ashes holders went 1-0 up in the five-match series.

The 34-year-old put those low totals behind him with an innings of 110 -- the 32nd Test century of his brilliant career, his 12th in all Ashes contests and eighth in England.

England, however, recovered well with the ball on Thursday by taking Australia's last five wickets for 77 runs.

Veteran pacemen James Anderson and Stuart Broad, the two most successful quicks in Test history, managed just two wickets between them.

Instead, it was England's other two frontline pacemen who did the bulk of the damage, with Josh Tongue taking 3-98 in 22 overs on his Ashes debut and Ollie Robinson 3-100 in 24.4.

England ended day 2 at 278/4, trailing Australia by 138 runs. Ben Duckett missed a memorable century when he got out for 98.

Smith was 85 not out, just 15 runs shy of his second Test century at Lord's following a superb 215 eight years ago at the 'Home of Cricket'.