After the win, the burning questions

Does Australia need to change the bowling attack for the Lord’s Test?

The pace trio of Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle got the job done at Edgbaston. So much so that Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc will find themselves carrying a bit of the bowling workload in a Worcester tour game this week in a bid to further their cause for selection at Lord’s. There’s no expectation the same bowlers will bowl all five games, but now might not be the time for change. “We’ve got two world-class bowlers sat on the sidelines raring to go,” Paine said. The Australian openers only got 25 runs between them. Does Cameron Bancroft get another chance?

Marcus Harris was the find of the Australian summer according to plenty of experts. He was easily the most stiff batsman to miss the opening Test. Bancroft’s ungainly performance in the match only made questions around his actual selection even more pertinent. Out of the glory of the drought-breaking win, Bancroft emerged as the man most under the pump. He’ll likely play at Lord’s, because of that whole don’t-change-awinning-side thing. What changes can we expect from England for Lord’s?

England will be rattled to have lost this Test. But captain Joe Root urged selectors not to make any “shotgun decisions”, though the likes of Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy will all come under scrutiny after misfiring at Edgbaston. Injured paceman Jimmy Anderson looks certain to miss the Lord’s Test — and perhaps more after that — with a calf injury, with exciting, uncapped quick Jofra Archer set to take his spot. But that comes with its own concerns, considering Archer himself is dealing with a side strain injury. What can we expect from the remaining pitches?

Australian teams have become accustomed to arriving in England to the sight of greentops and the prospect of the moving ball wreaking havoc. That’s why the dry and hard deck offered up at Edgbaston this week caught a few people off guard. It would surprise nobody if the sprinklers are left on a little longer at Lord’s, Headingley, Old Trafford and the Oval in the coming weeks.