Ashes: Woakes, Bairstow help England to 201/6 at Tea

London, Aug 15 (IANS) Chris Woakes and Jonny Bairstow helped England post 201/6 at Tea on Day 2 of the rain-affected second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's on Thursday.

After the first day's play got washed out, England were 76/2 at Lunch thanks to an unbroken 50-run partnership between opener Rory Burns (53) and Joe Denly (30). The pair shared a 66-run stand for the third wicket before Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood (3/43) removed Denly who edged one behind the stumps to captain Tim Paine.

Drafted into the squad after missing out the first Test, Hazlewood made a strong statement by accounting for both the wickets that fell in the morning session -- Jason Roy (0) and Joe Root (14).

Burns was dismissed by Pat Cummins as England suffered a mini collapse and were 138/6 when Woakes (25 batting) and Bairstow (36 batting) joined hands for a 64-run unbroken partnership for the seventh wicket.

Put into bat, the hosts were off to a poor start as Hazlewood got into his act straight away by striking in the very second over of the morning. Trying to push a short-of-a-length delivery, Roy handed a catch to Paine behind the stumps.

England captain Root and Burns then added 26 runs for the second wicket before Hazlewood struck again, trapping the former plumb in front of the wicket.

Burns, however, continued to play safe and shared a 50-run stand with Denly as England reached 76 runs in 27 overs before lunch was taken.

Brief scores: 1st innings: England 201/6 in 61.0 overs (Rory Burns 53, Jonny Bairstow 36 not out, Chris Woakes 25 not out; Josh Hazlewood 3/43) vs Australia (at Tea)