LONDON, Aug 14, (RTRS): The first day of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia was rained out at Lord’s on Wednesday without a ball being bowled.

Play had finally looked set to get underway after a morning of wet weather, with the umpires calling for a 3:30 pm (1430 GMT) start during a dry spell.

The sides briefly came out, and the England staff had time to present Jofra Archer with his debut Test cap. But the rain began to fall again minutes later, before the captains came out for the coin toss.

The sides will now aim to start the match on Thursday, with an extra half-hour of play allowed on each of the remaining four days to make up for the day lost.

Australia lead the five-match series 1-0 after an emphatic 251-run win at Edgbaston.

Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood will play in the second Test of the Ashes series at Lord’s, head coach Justin Langer said on Wednesday, edging out team mate Mitchell Starc as the side pick from a host of world-class pacemen.

But Hazlewood, who has played 44 Tests and taken 164 wickets at an average of 27.14 runs, had been seen as the likeliest replacement for the dropped James Pattinson in the second Test, based on his performances in a tour match against Worcestershire last week.

“He’s got an outstanding record that he’s built up over the last few months. He missed out on the World Cup because we felt that he hadn’t played much cricket (but) we know that he’s an outstanding bowler,” Langer told reporters at Lord’s.

“We know that against England he should execute his plans really well. He’s bowled well the last couple of weeks, and we hope that he does a good job for us in this Test match.

“He hits a great length (when bowling), and he’s usually pretty miserly (when it comes to giving away runs),” Langer said.