England vs Ireland live: latest updates from day 2 of the Test match ...

The offspinner Andy McBrine comes into the attack after the drinks break. Duckett and Pope decide to have a look at him first, with just two singles from a quiet over.

Don’t rule it out. Here’s Tim Wigmore at Lord’s.

Word at Lord’s is that England are planning to declare early enough today to give themselves enough time to try and force a win tonight. 76 overs left today; England could bat for 30 or so, try and lift themselves to a 250-run lead and then have another crack at Ireland.

Duckett decides to bring the leg side into play, working Campher off the hip for four with almost perfect timing. He’s averaging 69 since his recall to the Test team, with a Sehwagian strike rate of 96. Is this really an England opener we’re watching?

I suppose the Bangladesh series that Scyld mentioned is a cautionary tale for these England batsmen. In that series a young Ian Bell made 227 runs at almost a run a ball without being dismissed, but that was followed by a painful Ashes series in which he was worked over by Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. For all the justified optimism at the moment, there’s every chance one of the England batsmen will struggle against Australia.

That’s for the future. Today is about runs and fun, and Pope gets four more of the former - dear me, what a mess this sentence has become - with an edge along the ground.

Curiously this is Ben Duckett’s 28th game for England but his first in England. He’s marked it in the perfect way, with his second Test hundred, brought up through a flick to midwicket and a scampered single. Duckett punched the air, though not particularly demonstratively.

Now, with the sun out and Ireland sorely missing Josh Little, their point of difference, he will have designs on a double. His straight driving has been particularly pleasing. Ireland have not had the tools to test Duckett with the short ball; against Australia here later this month, of course, it will be very different.   

A change of bowling - but still no sign of spin. Curtis Campher is on for Mark Adair, and he soon beats Pope with a wider delivery that keeps a bit low. Pope responds with consecutive boundaries, a pristine cover-drive followed by a sweet clip through midwicket. This is quietly brutal stuff from England, who have scored 76 runs in 12 overs this mornning.

“Not since Bangladesh’s first tour in 2005 has an England batsman been able to score runs with such ease at Lord’s...” writes Scyld Berry at Lord’s, “but still a fine and efficient hundred by Ben Duckett.”

A century for Ben Duckett! He works Hand for a single, then takes off his helmet to reveal a broad, proud smile. It’s been a typical Duckett innings, full of unobtrusive but ruthless strokeplay. He takes bowlers to the cleaners without them realising. The century came in just 106 balls, with 14 fours, most through mid-off or point.

A leading edge later in the over takes Pope to fifty from just 64 balls. I doubt it’ll be the last milestone today.

Duckett crunches Adair through mid-off for four, then tickles a poor delivery to the fine-leg boundary. A single takes to him to within one of a century in his first home Test.

There is a hundred in the over - the hundred partnership, brought up by Pope off the final delivery. England are flying.

Pope edges the new bowler Fionn Hand along the ground for four. He’s been nowhere near as fluent as Duckett this morning and looks increasingly frustrated by his inability to locate the middle of the bat. But he still has 43 from 60 balls, so it could be worse.

Adair produces a jaffa that straightens to beat Pope, who nods respectfully down the pitch. A single brings Duckett on strike, and he forces another boundary straight down the ground. Excellent, businesslike batting.

England are scoring at 5.78 runs per over. Absurdly, that’s only their fifth fastest team innings since Ben Stokes took over.

Duckett thumps Hume in the air but well wide of the cover fielder and away for four. He looks in a hurry to get on the Lord’s honours boards. Four more boundaries will do it.

This was the earlier mix-up that almost gave Ireland a run-out chance.

Adair is bowling around the wicket to Duckett, attempting to cramp him for room, but a bit of width allows Duckett to slap a couple of runs through extra cover.

Duckett then tries to drag a short, wide delivery through the leg side, possibly out of boredom, but it’s so wide that all he can do is bottom-edge it short of the keeper.

Well, it hasn’t taken England long to get the 20 runs they needed to get into the lead. Ben Duckett has made a fine start to the day, guiding the ball behind point and driving in the V. Pope looking a little eager between the wickets. 

Duckett drives Hume crisply through mid-off for four, a high-class stroke. Ireland aren’t bowling particularly badly, they’ve just walked into a flat pitch and Bazball.

There’s almost a run-out chance for Ireland when Duckett and Pope meet mid-pitch, but they have time to turn back and make their ground.

Another efficient cut for three moves Duckett brings the scores level and moves him into the seventies. He is ruthless with anything even slightly wide of off stump. It’s going to be fascinating to see how he copes against the Australian quicks.

Since making his first Test hundred in December, Duckett has had four scores between 63 and 84, so he’ll be keen to reach three figures today. Personal milestones aren’t the be-all and end-all with this team – “I want 10 selfless cricketers” was one of the first things Ben Stokes said when he took over as captain – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important.

Pope crunches Hume for two and then waves a gorgeous, extravagant drive through extra cover for four.

Mark Adair – who had a difficult day yesterday, going from 59 from seven overs – starts with a maiden, just a leg-bye from it. Pope walked down the track to one delivery, as is his wont, but couldn’t beat mid-off.

Ben Duckett picks up where he left off, back-cutting Hume’s first ball brusquely for four. That was slightly reminiscent of Michael Slater and Phil DeFreitas at the Gabba in 1994-95, an intimidating statement of intent.

There’s a lovely efficiency to Duckett’s boundary-hitting. Nothing personal, just business (and pleasure). He works a single to leg later in the over, then Ollie Pope flicks two through midwicket.

Graham Hume has the ball. Let’s play!

Would you believe it? The sun is just starting to poke through, 10 minutes before we start. I am not sure I would fancy bowling with a 25-over ball that’s already been hammered to the boundary two dozen times. 

Being an Irish bowler this morning must be like sitting in the dentist’s waiting room contemplating a root canal. England will blast their way to a good lead and pull out as quickly as they can. It could be a bruising time. 

England will not be that interested in time in the middle – just winning the game as quickly as they can. Is Gilbert Jessop’s 120-year record for the fastest England Test ton in danger (again)? 

Will Macpherson has written about Zak Crawley, who rode his luck to slam 56 off 45 balls yesterday evening. Read it here...

Ben Stokes didn’t bowl a ball yesterday, but he still reminded us that he’s England’s most important player.

Read more...

Taking early wickets was so important. We know that when you get a bit of cloud at Lord’s you have to strike, but when the sun came out it felt like the pitch got a bit slower and the ball a bit softer. Setting the tone was a big thing for me, especially with a relatively inexperienced bowling attack. We had a really good first two hours.

I love bowling at the Pavilion End [usually Jimmy Anderson’s end]. I find a good rhythm at both ends, but there’s something about the Pavilion End – you feel like you can bring the stumps into play a lot more.

Playing for Notts earlier in the season gave me the chance to compete in Division One but also work on a few things – I’ve been trying to move the ball away from the bat more than I have in recent years. As a player I have a philosophy that I have to continuously improve; I need to have something that I’m working on in training to get me excited. The body feels fantastic, I felt in great rhythm. I’m someone who wants to play more than bowl in the nets.

Welcome to Telegraph Sport’s live, over-by-over coverage of day two at Lord’s. England will resume on 152/1, just 20 runs behind Ireland after a predictably dominant performance on the first day. Look, we know how this story ends, but that never stopped us watching the new James Bond. The interest lies not in whether England will win, but how they will do so. 

Stuart Broad has already muddied the selection for the first Ashes Test by taking a five-for yesterday, and now it’s the turn of the batsmen. The top seven all know they will be playing against Australia at Edgbaston on 16 June, barring injury, so they can bat with total freedom. This makes them exceedingly dangerous. Never mind troubling the scorers; you’d fancy at least one of them to trouble the Lord’s engravers today. 

In the past we’d have described this as a great opportunity for the batsmen to massage their averages, but this England team don’t think like that. It’s a chance to have fun, to feel bat on ball and, most importantly, to get back in the Bazball groove ahead of the ultimate Test of the new-age philosophy that has made the last 12 months so glorious.

First up are Ben Duckett, who breezed to 60 not out from 71 balls last night, and Ollie Pope (29 from 35). Ireland missed Josh Little, who is unavailable due to the small matter of playing in the IPL final the other day, and struggled to cope with the pressure applied by England’s batters. No shame in that – it’s happened to some of the best attacks in the world in the past 12 months.

Ireland are learning the hard way. In Test cricket, as the England players know from past experience, it’s the only way.