Aussies believe they can escape Ashes defeat

London:

England's great escape at Cardiff has Australia believing it can pull off something similar to save the second cricket Test at Lords.

Bad light offered a reprieve on Friday for Australia, which was 156-8 at stumps, still needing 70 more runs to avoid the follow-on.

Two non-batsmen are at the crease and one of them, Nathan Hauritz, is recovering from a dislocated finger.

The Australians are in danger of going 1-0 down in the five-Test Ashes series after failing to take one last wicket in the first Test at Cardiff on Sunday. James Anderson and Monty Panesar survived 69 balls to avoid what seemed like an inevitable defeat.

"We watched England fight their way out of a hole at Cardiff and we have to show similar resolve," Australia batsman Mike Hussey said after making 51.

"First of all we want to try and avoid the follow-on and then see if we can bat a lot better in our second innings."

Five of Australia's eight wickets were due to cross-batted shots. Openers Phillip Hughes (4) and Simon Katich (48), Marcus North (0), Brad Haddin (28) and Mitchell Johnson (4) all departed in that fashion.

Anderson admitted that some of those were the result of planning against certain batsmen, while Hussey acknowledged England "executed their plans well."

Fast bowler Anderson, who claimed 4-36 in 17 overs, said the let-off at Cardiff boosted England's confidence, but it also revealed how much improvement was required at Lord's.

"We had a big chat after Cardiff," he said. "We knew we hadn't bowled well enough there but we executed our plans better today.

"We knew that we had got out of jail in Cardiff and that we needed to take advantage. We didn't want to waste getting out of jail in that game."