The 2nd day of the England Lions vs Australia tour match at Northampton began with England declaring on 269-7, leaving Australia with a day to bat and (really) Hughes and Khawaja to push their cases for inclusion in the final test. Ed Cowan and Dave Warner opened the batting. James Harris and Keith Barker bowled with spirit, but didn't find a breakthrough in their opening spell with Warner scoring easy runs as the 50 came up in the 13th over. Simon Kerrigan's spin arrived, and Warner charged, missed and was easily stumped by Buttler for 35, 52-1. Liam Plunkett then fairly easily picked up the wicket of Cowan, caught behind by Buttler for 17. Shane Watson then took a liking to the bowling of Kerrigan, announcing himself with 3 fours in the 23rd over, slamming the ball over midwicket and through cover with ease. another four soon followed, then the biggest hit of the day, Kerrigan slog-swept over midwicket for a massive six, but on 45 the adventure came to an end. Watson went for another heave off James Harris, but found fine leg where Liam Plunkett took a good catch, 117-3. Steve Smith came in and looked at ease against spin, but was yorked by Ben Stokes for 18, 144-4. Stokes had his 2nd in two overs as Khawaja, edging to Buttler for four. Keith Barker returned to finally shift Hughes, bowling him for 30 as Australia slumped to 160-6 in 46 overs.
Matt Wade and James Faulkner decided to grind it out for as long as they could, whilst pinging boundaries off Plunkett and Stokes as they batted up to tea, and then onwards, bringing up the 50 partnership. At 227-6, the light and rain closed in and play was abandoned, match drawn (as it always would be). Australis not really looking in any better shape for the final test as they managed to all get in, then get out without any of them spendint some serious time in the middle.
