Long room rises as imperious Steve Smith swats England aside on a difficult day for the hosts

When Australia toured England in 2001, they won the first Test at Edgbaston by an innings and 118 runs and came to Lord’s for the second Test full of confidence, aggression and the swagger of hard men relishing the prospect of a fight they were certain that they would win.

They were a formidable sight when they marched down the stairs from the first floor of the pavilion and into the Long Room, where the English establishment in its bacon-and-egg ties, its Savile Row suits and its sense of superiority stood waiting for them.

There was no roped-off corridor, as there is now, to give the players a clear path to the doors that lead from the pavilion to the outfield but Steve Waugh, the Australia captain, did not break stride as he led his players through the heart of enemy territory.

His features were set and stony and he made it clear he considered himself on hostile ground. He snarled at someone who inadvertently got in his way and the MCC members parted before him in silence as Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, Brett Lee and the rest of that great Australian side marched out to put England to the sword again.

More than 20 years on, some things have changed and some have not. Outside Lord’s, on St John’s Wood Road, one long line of people queued in the early light of Wednesday morning for the cricket and another long line of people queued in the opposite direction for the Regent’s Park Mosque to celebrate Eid.

When Australia toured England in 2001, they won the first Test at Edgbaston by an innings and 118 runs and came to Lord’s for the second Test full of confidence, aggression and swagger

When the Australians walked down the stairs from their changing room this time and through the doors into the Long Room, they did not exude the seething antagonism 

However, Steve Smith’s side still managed to swat England aside on a difficult day for the hosts

The MCC arranged for Eid prayers to take place in the multi-faith room beneath the Long Room and Moeen Ali, left out of the England side because of an injury to his spinning finger, was among those who attended.

Upstairs, the atmosphere inside the Long Room was still heavy with anticipation ahead of the first day’s play of the second match of another Ashes series. England winning the toss and choosing to field on an overcast day heavy with the promise of swing was greeted with loud cheers.

As English cricket reeled from the rap sheet handed to it the previous day by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket, which accused it of being racist, sexist and elitist, there may be vivid, modern portraits of Brian Lara and Muttiah Muralitharan on the walls in the Long Room, but corners of old England such as this are in the line of fire.

When the Australians walked down the stairs from their changing room this time and through the doors into the Long Room, under the portrait of Alec Stewart that hangs above them, they did not exude the seething antagonism that had burst from the very being of Waugh’s side.

It is still an alien environment for Pat Cummins and his team. They walked past a large canvas depicting The Founders of I Zingari, a touring team founded in 1845. Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, a man with unfeasibly bushy sideburns, the Earl of Bessborough and John Loraine Baldwin staring down at them.

They walked past an oil painting called The Scorer, which showed William Davies of Brighton, dressed in a waistcoat and a straw boater, seated at a desk as he annotated his scorecard with a quill, fortified by what looks like a bottle of brandy on the table in front.

Cummins did not snarl as Waugh had, though. The Long Room greeted him and his team with polite applause and responded in kind with a fixed smile and a few nods of appreciation and thanks. Behind him, David Warner laughed and joked with Travis Head.

They looked supremely relaxed. It was an augury.

This is a more amiable, personable Australian side than that team that crushed England 22 years ago and Cummins is a leader who exudes dignity and grace, as well as the steel that enabled him to anchor the ninth-wicket partnership with Nathan Lyon that won the first Test for Australia at Edgbaston last week.

But if they are not yet regarded as a great Australian side, they are burnishing their reputation with every week they are in England, starting with beating India at The Oval earlier this month to win the World Test Championship.

The atmosphere inside the Long Room was still heavy with anticipation ahead of the first day’s play of the second match of another Ashes series

England winning the toss and choosing to field on an overcast day heavy with the promise of swing was greeted with loud cheers

They found a way to win at Edgbaston without any of their leading three batsmen — Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Warner — making a score of note as England captain Ben Stokes threw everything he could at them with the team’s aggressive, dynamic brand of cricket.

And Wednesday at Lord’s, Australia were simply imperious. For all the justified excitement about England’s style of play since Brendon McCullum and Stokes took over at the helm, Australia swatted them aside on the first day of a match that England dare not lose if they are to have any realistic hope of regaining The Ashes this summer.

Sure, their batsmen rode their luck. They played and missed a lot. England dropped catches again, too. But when they got lucky, they took full advantage. There were times, particularly when Labuschagne and Smith were at the crease for a third-wicket century partnership, when it felt as if they were irrevocably taking the game away from England.

Smith was almost back to his brilliant best. You did not need to be a student of technique to see that right from the first ball he faced, an attempted yorker he dug out to turn into a push for three through mid-on, the former Australia skipper brought an entirely different energy to his performance compared to the way he had played in Birmingham.

Australia found a way to win at Edgbaston without any of their leading three batsmen — Smith (above), Labuschagne and Warner — making a score of note

On Wednesday at Lord’s, Australia were simply imperious – they swatted England aside 

Australia gave England some hope when they lost Head and Cameron Green (centre) to rash shots as they tried to attack Joe Root late in the final session

He played with all his old confidence and verve and hyperactivity. He berated himself after practically every ball just as he always does, but there was intent and belief in everything he did and even though he was given out for edging a ball from Stuart Broad behind, it missed his bat by a mile and he was reprieved on review.

Australia gave England some hope when they lost Head and Cameron Green to rash shots as they tried to attack Joe Root late in the final session, but this was still a sobering day for England and their bowlers.

Until now, some may have underestimated this Australia team. Some may have damned them with faint praise. Some may have wondered why Stokes felt the need to try to unsettle them with England’s attacking batting strategy, but Wednesday was the day Australia showed just how good they can be.

As Smith walked back through the Long Room last night, unbeaten on 85, he marched past all those paintings so redolent of old England and listened to the applause of the MCC members ringing in his ears as dusk closed in and history threatened to repeat itself.