England reached 311 for six in their second innings on the third day of the second Test on Saturday to put themselves in a splendid position to win their first Ashes test at Lord's for 75 years.
When rain ended play, England held an overall lead of 521 after captain Andrew Strauss had decided against enforcing the follow-on. Australia were dismissed for 215 in the morning session in reply to the hosts' 425.
Strauss and Alastair Cook moved purposefully to 61 in 56 minutes when off-spinner Nathan Hauritz struck with his first delivery after lunch. The ball hustled through low, Cook missed and was given out lbw for 32.
Eight balls later Strauss was out for the same score, deceived by a flighted delivery which spun away from the left-hander and caught the edge to give Michael Clarke a simple catch at first slip.
Kevin Pietersen drove Hauritz handsomely for four but then became increasingly introspective.
Ravi Bopara was also becalmed against accurate swing bowling from Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle.
He survived a dropped catch at second slip by Ricky Ponting on 11 off Siddle but had played only 13 scoring shots from 93 balls when he was caught for 27 off Hauritz at short-leg.
After tea, Pietersen smacked two deliveries off Siddle through the covers but a somewhat tortured innings came to end at 44 when Brad Haddin took a smart catch behind the stumps off a thick inside edge from Siddle. Following the torpid afternoon session, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior injected some overdue enterprise into the innings.
Collingwood gratefully smacked his ball, a low full toss from Hauritz, to leg for four. Prior played the shot of the day, an emphatic off-drive to the boundary, and unveiled a fluent array of shots around the wicket.
FLINTOF APPLAUSE
Prior was particularly effective with the sweep shot off Hauritz, reaching his half-century from only 37 balls.
Sixteen runs came from a Hauritz over then Prior steered Hilfenhaus to third man for yet another boundary. But off the next ball he tried for a risky second run and Marcus North threw down the stumps from deep backward point with Prior on 61.
Andrew Flintoff, greeted by a huge cheer for his final Test innings at Lord's, got off the mark with a massive pull for four. He upper-cut Mitchell Johnson for four and had reached 30 not out when play ended.
Collingwood hustled busily between the wickets to reach his third fifty of the series in four innings before he was caught behind off Siddle for 54.
Siddle and Hauritz batted without undue fuss when Australia started the day at 156 for eight needing 70 to avoid the follow-on.
Hauritz advanced to 24 when he was caught by Paul Collingwood at third slip off Graham Onions's third delivery of the morning.
Siddle struck five boundaries to reach his highest test score of 35 when he was caught at first slip by Strauss off the same bowler.
The ease with which Siddle and Hauritz handled the bowling may have persuaded Strauss against asking Australia to follow on. He would also be aware Sri Lanka and South Africa have saved tests at Lord's in recent years after being asked to follow on.
