England captain Ben Stokes’ swashbuckling 155 went in vain as Australia won the second Ashes Test at Lord’s by 43 runs on an extraordinary final day to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Stokes launched a blistering attack after the controversial but fair dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, smashing nine sixes and as many fours to raise hopes of an encore of his brilliant match-winning knock against the Australians at Headingley four years ago.

But miracles don’t happen all the time. With 70 runs needed for victory, the left-handed batter skied Josh Hazlewood as wicketkeeper Alex Carey ran to his left and pouched it, much to the relief of the Australians.

The situation on the ground had certainly heated up a little bit after Carey riled the Englishmen late in the Sunday’s first session by stumping Bairstow (10) as the batsman left his crease almost immediately at the end of a legal delivery from Cameron Green.

Carey though was well within his rights and the laws to effect that stumping, especially as Bairstow had left the crease before the ball was declared dead. The English section of the crowd booed loudly after Bairstow was adjudged out by the third umpire, but that by no means took the sheen off Carey’s presence of mind and smart work.

That obviously didn’t go down with the England team as skipper Stokes responded by striking three sixes and a four in an over off Green to bring up his 13th Test century and was unbeaten on 108 at lunch. England, at that time, needed another 128 to level the series.

The Australian quicks continuously dug it short, but the barrage of bouncers had hardly any effect on Stokes as he kept hammering them over the on-side for maximums.

He carried on with the assault even after the lunch break, clubbing Hazlewood for sixes. Australia began looking a little ragged on the field and that showed when Steve Smith, otherwise a very good fielder, spilled a relatively easy catch at deep square leg to let Stokes off after he had just crossed three figures.

The England supporters roared with delight when the former Australia captain let the ball slip out of his grasp.

Stokes welcomed Mitchell Starc back into the attack with two more maximums as he and Stuart Broad shared a century partnership for the seventh wicket. Broad though contributed only 11 in the century stand. The England fast bowler played a key role as the drama grew, surviving a series of short-pitched deliveries and trying to rile Carey at every opportunity by holding his bat inside the crease at the end of almost every over and staring intently at the stumps.

Stokes dabbed Green for a couple to reach 150 off 197 balls before attempting to clear the ropes again and giving Carey a simple catch, leaving the ground to a standing ovation.

Australia’s relief after getting Stokes out was palpable and the end came quickly as England were all out for 327.

Earlier, at an opportune moment to put further pressure on Australia, Ben Duckett (83) perished with a needless shot to squander the advantage.

Moeen retained

Spinner all-rounder Moeen Ali is in line to return to action having kept his place in the England squad for the third Test at Headingley from Thursday. Moeen did not play at Lord’s after suffering a finger blister and was replaced by pacer Tongue.

Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who was called up to the squad as a replacement for Moeen, dropped out, while pacer Matthew Potts has not been recalled.

Written with Reuters inputs