A bold and bright innings of 91 from youngster Michael Clarke gave Australia a daunting lead over England after two days at Lord's.

Clarke, who hit 15 boundaries from 106 balls faced, put on 155 for the fourth wicket with Damien Martyn (65) after being dropped by Kevin Pietersen on 21.

The Aussies slipped late in the day from 255-3 to close on 279-7.

But England know they are 314 runs behind on a wicket where batting has rarely been straightforward.

KEY MOMENTS OF THE THIRD SESSION:

1759:WICKET Australia 279-7 (Warne 2)
England finish the day with some momentum as Warne directs a leading edge off Harmison to Giles in gully.

1744:WICKET Australia 274-6 (Gilchrist 10)
Gilchrist hits Flintoff for a boundary past point before again perishing to the all-rounder as he plays onto his stumps off an inside edge. Is Flintoff delighted? You bet.

1724: Katich is caught in two minds and tries to get his bat out of the way against Harmison, but fails, and England are unlucky to concede a streaky four past gully.

1718:WICKET Australia 255-5 (Martyn 65)
Harmison makes it two wickets in two balls for England as Martyn plays back and is trapped plumb in front by a ball that keeps a bit low and nips back. The spring returns to England's step.

1715:WICKET Australia 255-4 (Clarke 91)
The desperately needed breakthrough comes England's way as Clarke, nine short of 100, charges Hoggard but inside-edges onto the stumps via his back foot.

1656: Hoggard is sent to the fence again as Clarke plays a disdainful cross-bat shot straight past the bowler.

1651: A delighftul back-foot drive by Clarke splits the off-side field and brings another boundary. Flintoff then leaks two more as Martyn gorges on either side of the wicket.

1636: Vaughan turns to Bell - an act of desperation? Clarke makes it look like one as he smears the part-timer through extra cover for a couple of fours.

1623: Clarke does not time his back-foot drive off Flintoff but still collects three runs. Martyn nudges a single to register his well-crafted half-century.

Steve Johns from Newcastle has e-mailed our Ashes blog to say "can everyone just CALM DOWN please! There will be times throughout the series when things don't go well both as a team and for individuals. But you have to back the chaps to come through. Get behind your country!"

1620:MISS: Pietersen squanders a gilt-edged chance to run out Martyn, who is well out of his ground as the ball misses the stumps at the non-striker's end. Four overthrows result and the 200 is up for Australia.

1617: Clarke whacks Giles to the deep mid-wicket fence to register his half-century - and first for 10 innings. Flintoff then blunders badly at extra cover to gift him another boundary.

1554: Harmison works hard in the deep to keep Clarke's shot to three runs before Martyn drives Jones square for four to take Australia's lead past 200. Martyn adds four more as Hoggard fumbles on the rope at deep backward square.

1543: Clarke's straight-driven four off Jones brings up the fifty stand for the fourth wicket and takes Australia past 150 - the overall lead nears 200, too.

1509: Jones, back in for Harmison, does the job first ball but Pietersen spills a very catchable chance at extra cover off Clarke's bat. That is the debutant's third drop of the match.

Mark from Australia has e-mailed our Ashes blog to say "thanks Kevin Pieterson. Three dropped catches - that's the difference between the two sides. Anything over 250 will be too much for England".

1459: Hoggard is given a breather as left-arm spinner Giles is tossed the ball for the first time in the match. His line is inevitably leg-side and Martyn nurdles to square-leg for a single. Clarke adds two wide of that region.

1452: Hoggard lapses onto Clarke's pads and is duly punished, with four through mid-wicket the result.

1423:WICKET Australia 100-3 (Ponting 42)
Hoggard and England are ecstatic as Ponting gives his wicket away, cutting loosely straight to sub fielder James Hildreth at point.

1411: A single to the covers earns Ponting 7,000 career runs. It's time for the drinks break.

Martin Gough of BBC Sport has texted our Ashes blog to say "proper Test cricket returns to Lord's. This afternoon so far has been a cracking, even contest between bat and ball".

1408: Bell and umpire Dar tangle up at square leg as Ponting's shot off Flintoff is transformed from two runs into three. Ponting passes Sir Donald Bradman's career aggregate of runs and is one away from 7,000 in Test cricket.

1400: Martun offers no stroke to Flintoff and is hit on the leg plumb in front, surviving because of height only. Risky stuff from the Aussie number four.

1346: Ponting gets a big stride in and pushes Jones through extra cover for an easy three. Another jaffa from the Welsh paceman spits off the seam and beats Martyn before yet another travels agonisingly over the top of the stumps.

1334: Martyn keeps out a looping Jones yorker before an unplayable leg-cutter beats Ponting's bat by some distance. The paceman then lets himself down by straying on the pads of the Aussie skipper, who gobbles up a boundary through mid-wicket.

1322:WICKET Australia 54-2 (Hayden 34)
Hayden again goes for the pull shot but his execution is poor and he drags Flintoff's delivery back onto his stumps via his leg. A breakthrough England badly needed.

1317: Hayden is fortunate to survive as his top-edged hook flies high over the keeper and to safety at fine-leg. Ponting then clips Jones effortlessly past square for four.

LUNCH: Your interval views

There is no shortage of opinion on the messageboard as England go to lunch on day two seemingly well behind the eight ball.

HAVE YOUR SAY Text 81111 TMS messageboard Listen live to Test Match Special

Howzatmeboyo e-mails in to say "Langer needs a tape measure and a sense of responsibilty. Why would you get out for the sake of one run when you are playing in what appears to be a low-scoring game?"

hansoffamatting reckons Paul Collingwood should be in the England team, saying "Colly is tried and tested at one day. I'm sure he could do a job in the Test side".

Linden is impressed with Kevin Pietersen, offering "KP once again. He seems to have made up for those drops yesterday, doesn't he?".

1221: Harmison ties up Hayden with a lethal leg-side bouncer, but the left-hander soon hooks Jones' first delivery fine for four.

1217: Hayden's muscular thrash sends Flintoff past mid-on for four, and he repeats the dose against Harmison courtesy of a square drive.

1209: Ponting looks edgy against the pace and lift of Harmison and is lucky to survive as one keeps desperately low and passes off-stump about a third of the way up. The paceman follows up with a well-directed bouncer.

1201:WICKET Australia 18-1 (Langer 6)
Flintoff is brought on for Hoggard but it is Pietersen who makes the breakthrough as Langer is run out at the non-striker's end going for a foolishly quick single.

On the TMS messageboard, Spinning Davy says "Why has Graham Thorpe retired now? Considering how abjectly England batted it is clear we need more experience in there, probably in place of Bell. Why Graham, why?"

1151: Hayden is home safely at the striker's end as Pietersen's shy at the stumps is way off. In the last few moments, the man Pietersen replaced, Graham Thorpe, announces his retirement from international cricket.

1144: Hayden works Hoggard past square for two before Langer bisects point and gully for the first boundary of the visitors' second innings.

INNINGS BREAK

Nick Gee from England has e-mailed our Ashes blog to say "I think it says it all when the last-wicket partnership scores 18 more than the first five English batsmen to get out combined!"

1126:WICKET England 155 all out (Harmison 11)
England's prevcious last-wicket stand of 33 comes to an end as Harmison drives the returning Lee to mid-on.

1120: Harmison meets the pitch of the ball and drives Warne over mid-on for four. It was a classic stroke and the tailender follows up with a sweep for one more.

1118: Jones continues to frustrate Australia with his daring strokeplay with a top-edged boundary off McGrath. Two singles follow and they all count massively for England.

1105: Jones dishes out some more punishment to McGrath, driving through the covers for four.

1058: Pietersen refuses to take a single to deep extra cover before clubbing Warne over mid-wicket for another six.

WICKET: England 122-9 (Pietersen 57)
Pietersen goes after Warne again and only just fails as Martyn takes a splendid diving catch on the ropes to bring an end to the debutant's impressive innings.

1053: Pietersen goes on the offensive, cross-batting McGrath down the ground for four, hoisting him high over long-off for six and cover-driving to the fence in consecutive deliveries to bring up his half-century. A single follows to earn the debutant 15 runs in the over.

1048:WICKET England 101-8 (Hoggard 0)
Warne takes his first wicket of this Ashes series as Hoggard cuts a straight one to first slip, where Hayden juggles before taking the catch.

1033: Pietersen tucks the ball through square leg to collect the first run of the day and bring Warne's over to an end.

1030: Shane Warne is handed the ball by Ricky Ponting for the opening over. His second ball strikes Pietersen on the pad but umpire Koertzen rejects a confident appeal.

England: M Vaughan (capt), M Trescothick, A Strauss, I Bell, K Pietersen, A Flintoff, G Jones (wkt) A Giles, S Jones, M Hoggard, S Harmison.

Australia: R Ponting (capt), M Hayden, J Langer, D Martyn, M Clarke, S Katich, A Gilchrist (wkt), S Warne, B Lee, J Gillespie, G McGrath.