No home comforts for England at Home of Cricket – Australia’s Lord’s domination

England have won just 18 per cent of their meetings with Australia at Lord’s.

Ben Stokes and England tasted defeat as Australia and Steve Smith, right, cintuned to thrive at Lord’s (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)

Defeat in the second Test extended England’s miserable Ashes record at Lord’s to seven wins in 38 matches.

Ben Stokes’ staggering 155 was not enough to avoid a 43-run defeat which stretched England’s winless run against their arch-rivals at the Home of Cricket to a decade.

Here, the PA news agency takes a statistical look at Australia’s visits to Lord’s.

No home comforts

The Lord’s hospitality may be world famous – Sunday’s unsavoury confrontations in the Long Room notwithstanding – but unfortunately for England, their visitors from the other side of the world have too often made themselves at home.

Sunday saw the conclusion of Australia’s 16th win at Lord’s, drawing 15 Tests along the way to leave England winning just 18 per cent of their meetings.

England’s back-to-back wins in 2009, in a game set up by Sir Andrew Strauss and Sir Alastair Cook’s opening stand of 196 and clinched by Andrew Flintoff’s five for 92, and 2013 when Joe Root made 180 and Graeme Swann took nine wickets in the match are their only successes in 23 attempts since winning in 1934.

In fact, England won more Ashes Tests at Lord’s prior to 1900 – four out of seven, having only played the first in 1884 – than their three in the 123 years since.

The ground witnessed only that solitary 1934 home win in the whole of the 20th century, when Hedley Verity took 15 wickets to condemn the great Sir Donald Bradman’s side to an innings defeat.

Australia have won on seven of their last 11 visits since a run of draws in the 1970s and early 1980s, and all by comfortable margins.

Sunday’s was easily the closest by runs, with Australia victorious by 239 in 2005 and 405 in 2015 as well as chasing targets with four, six and eight wickets to spare and completing a thumping innings win in 1993 after declaring on 632 for four.

Smith closing on the Don

Bradman is the leading run-scorer in Ashes Tests at Lord’s, closely followed by Steve Smith after his first-innings century this time around.

Bradman scored 551 runs in eight innings, including scores of 254, 102 not out and 89. Smith’s record is very similar, with 215 in 2015, 110 across Wednesday and Thursday and 92 in 2019, adding an extra half-century with 58 in the same game as his double-century.

He has also had one innings fewer than Bradman, having been forced off by concussion in 2019 as Marnus Labuschagne took his place.

Allan Border scored 503 runs in nine Lord’s innings, meaning only Australian batters have reached 500 in Ashes Tests there. David Gower, with 467, is the only Englishman in the top six, with Stokes’ efforts over the weekend lifting him to 387.

Among those to have played at least twice, ex-Australia captain Steve Waugh’s 115.50 is the highest average. Waugh scored 231 runs in five innings with only two dismissals.

Compatriots David Boon, Warren Bardsley and Border also averaged over 100 at Lord’s, with Percy Chapman (91.00) the only Englishman in the top 10, even if excluding Australia pace bowler Dennis Lillee, who scored 115 in three innings with no dismissals and therefore no average.

Glenn McGrath edges Verity as the leading wicket-taker, 26 to 21, with both men averaging just over 11 in those games. England’s Fred Trueman and Australia pair Charlie Turner and Shane Warne took 19 apiece.

Johnny Briggs boasts the best average, taking 15 Australian wickets at 7.26 in Lord’s Tests.

Bob Massie, with 16 at 8.56, is the leading Australian, with Englishman George Ulyett (eight at 10.12) also below Verity and McGrath’s averages among those with at least five Ashes wickets at HQ.