Steve Smith - Chris Rogers
Steve Smith and Chris Rogers scored a century each in the first day of the second Test match at Lord's.Reuters

Australia are on course for a huge first innings total as they posted 337 runs on the first day of the second Test match at Lord's. Steve Smith and Chris Rogers took full advantage of the batting conditions, scoring big hundreds, as the England bowlers looked helpless on a pitch which did not have any life in it.

Australia seem to have won an important toss. The visitors started their innings well, with David Warner taking an aggressive approach, before holing out on 38 runs. Moeen Ali managed to dismiss Warner, and that was the end of the day for English bowlers, as far as wickets are concerned, as Rogers and Smith put on an unbeaten partnership of 259 runs.

It is this partnership, which has put the Australians on the driving seat and England on the backfoot. Rogers believes he, along with, Smith have come up with a strong statement.

"I always think when you are having a tough time it comes down to individuals to change the momentum. Hopefully Steve and I have made a bit of a statement and showed our changing room as much as anyone we can get the upper hand on England," BBC quoted Rogers as saying.

Rogers and Smith were 158 and 129 not out respectively at stumps on Day 1. Rogers should consider himself lucky as he was dropped by Joe Root in the slip cordon early on when the Australian opener had not even opened his account.

Alastair Cook, who was aggressive with his field placing in the first Test, surprised many, as he took a defensive approach quite early, which gave the Aussies the freedom to score easy runs.

Smith, who is in a purple patch in his career, was surprised to see Cook's defensive tactics.

"I think it was a good pitch to bat on but they got defensive quite quickly," said Smith. "I know that's one thing we're certainly not going to do.

"We didn't play as well as we could in Cardiff and we copped a lot for that and rightfully so, so it was pretty important for us to start this Test well."

England have to break this long-standing partnership early on Day 2, and take wickets at regular intervals to come back into the Test match. Anderson and Broad will have to use their experience to pick up wickets.

If Smith and Rogers are still remain in the batting crease after the first hour of play on Day 2, Australia will push for a score of 600 plus and declare with a thought of having a crack at the English batsmen later in the day.

The second day of the Test match could well decide the fate of the Test match.

Where to Watch Live

England will be eager to dismiss Steve Smith and Chris Rogers early in the second day of the Test match, which is scheduled for 11am local time start (3:30pm IST, 6am ET, 7:30pm AEST) with live TV coverage in India on Star Sports 1/HD with live streaming on Hotstar and starsports.com.

Sky Sports 2 will provide live coverage in the UK with live streaming on Watch Sky Sports and Sky Go, while Australian viewers can catch the action live on Nine Network and online on CA website.

US viewers can watch the second day of the Test match live on TV in One World Sports and ESPN with live streaming on Watch ESPN.