Fletcher: We can level series

Australia had a very good opening day at Lord's

England coach Duncan Fletcher believed that his batsmen did very little wrong against Australia despite losing four wickets on a rain affected day at Lord's.

England were left at 121 for four at the close of play, although Fletcher is adamant that 350 is within their capabilities as the home side seek to tie the Ashes series at 1-1.

Fletcher cited one particular dismissal as the turning point of day one.

"Mark Ramprakash's was an important wicket, we'd have been a lot more comfortable going into tomorrow only three down," he said.

"I thought after the way we looked at Edgbaston they batted well. Out of the four dismissals, three were to really good deliveries.

Obviously we are looking at 350

  England coach Duncan Fletcher

"Maybe Marcus Trescothick would look at his and say it was a bit of a rash shot.

"The one that got Ramprakash came back up the hill - Mark Butcher got a good one, I thought the guys batted well.

"Obviously we are looking at 350, that's the score we should try and get to, but it's a wicket that's offered something and hopefully it will continue that way for the next couple of days.

We are reasonably pleased

  Australia coach John Buchanan

The coach was also delighted at the return of Graham Thorpe who remained unbeaten on 16 from 38 balls.

"With Graham, we realised it was a bit of a risk because he hadn't played for some time.

"The most important thing was that Graham was very confident, he wanted to play, he wanted to go out there and do battle with the Aussies. The mental side is very, very important. I think he looked pretty good.

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"Friday will be very important. Hopefully Stewart and Thorpe can put on a good partnership and we can build towards that 350."

Australian coach John Buchanan was pleased that his bowlers were able to take four England wickets on a truncated day.

"It was a day when it was hard for any side to build any momentum," he said.

"I suppose having sent England in, getting four wickets on reasonably benign wicket, we are reasonably pleased.

"Overall our bowling performance was better than the first Test, the areas we bowled in were much better than at Edgbaston."

"Thorpe and Stewart will be our first priorities tomorrow, obviously. Thorpe's come to the crease handled himself reasonably well. There are areas there we hope to exploit tomorrow."