England's recent dominance v Australia's overall superiority

After all the tension and excitement of Trent Bridge, the Ashes bandwagon moves to Lord's, a venue which has served England well over the last few years, and one at which Australia have had plenty of Ashes success over the last 65 years.

Australia have some catching up to do after their 14-run defeat in Nottingham, but historically Lord's has been a fantastic venue for them: in 36 Tests they've won 16 and lost only six. (This includes a Test against South Africa in 1912, and one against Pakistan in 2010, which was their last Test match at this venue.) Among overseas grounds where they've played at least five Tests, only at three venues do they have better win-loss ratios. Before their defeat by 115 runs in the 2009 Ashes, Australia had gone 18 Tests without losing at Lord's, dating all the way back to 1938 - during this period they won nine and drew nine. That undefeated run was broken in 2009, but Australia have since won another Test here, beating Pakistan by 150 runs in 2010.

England's record against Australia isn't so hot at this ground, but their recent stats here are outstanding. Given that their top players enjoy playing at this venue, and they're leading in the series, England will be confident of another strong performance. Since the beginning of 2004, they've lost only two out of 19 Tests here, against Australia in 2005, by 239 runs, and by 51 runs against South Africa last year. Earlier this year, England beat New Zealand by 170 runs here.

Lord's has been one of England's best home venues recently, but it's their worst Ashes home venue. Their overall win-loss ratio here of 0.42 against Australia is their worst among all grounds in England. Their best is the other venue in London, The Oval, where England have won 16 and lost 6, almost the reverse of their record at Lord's.

England and Australia at Lord's

	Tests	Won/ lost	Drawn	W/L ratio
England - overall	124	49/ 28	47	1.75
Australia - overall	36	16/ 6	14	2.67
Australia since 1948	19	10/ 1	8	10.00
England since 2004	19	10/ 2	7	5.00

England at each home venue v Australia

Venue	Tests	Won/ Lost	W/L ratio
The Oval	35	16/ 6	2.67
Edgbaston	13	5/ 3	1.67
Old Trafford	28	7/ 7	1.00
Headingley	24	7/ 9	0.77
Trent Bridge	21	5/ 7	0.71
Lord's	34	6/ 14	0.42

Given that England's recent record at the ground is terrific, it's no surprise that both, their batsmen and their bowlers have excellent stats here. Unlike at Trent Bridge, where none of England's current top-order batsmen average 40, here all of them have 40-plus averages, including Stuart Broad, who averages an impressive 45.33 from 15 Test innings. His highest Test score of 169 was made at this ground, against Pakistan in 2010.

Among the current lot, Kevin Pietersen has the highest aggregate of 1228 at a superb average, but his recent efforts here have been patchy: since the beginning of 2009, in 12 innings Pietersen has two 50-plus scores, and an average of 42.60, and even that was largely because of an unbeaten 202 against a ragged Indian attack in 2011. Apart from that innings, he has only scored 224 runs from ten completed innings, at an average of 22.40. Trott has been more consistent here, with seven 50-plus scores in 13 innings and an average of almost 70. Like Broad, Trott's highest Test score is also at Lord's - 226 against Bangladesh in 2010. Ian Bell has three Test centuries at Lord's, though he hasn't got one here since 2008, while Matt Prior has been extremely impressive here as well.

Among Australia's current lot, the only batsman who's played more than a Test here is Michael Clarke - he averages almost 50 from three Tests, one of which was against Pakistan. In the two matches against England, Clarke hasn't scored much in the first innings, but has made substantial contributions in the second.

England's bowling numbers look pretty good at this ground too, with most of their current bowlers averaging less than 30 here. James Anderson, the hero at Trent Bridge, has taken more wickets at Lord's than at any other ground, while four of his 15 five-fors have also come here. His most recent Test performance here was memorable too, as he took 7 for 70 in May this year against New Zealand. Broad, who averages 26.82 at Lord's, was outstanding in that game too, taking 7 for 44 in New Zealand's second innings to take the Man-of-the-Match award. Steven Finn had a terrible game at Trent Bridge but he just might get another game, given his record at Lord's: 29 wickets at 20.65, with four four-wicket hauls in the last couple of years.

Graeme Swann has been impressive at Lord's too, with 31 wickets at 27.12, but his stats are highly skewed: against left-handers here, he has taken 21 wickets at 16.09; against right-handers, his ten wickets have cost him more than 50 each. The only batsman he has dismissed more than twice in Tests here is Shivnarine Chanderapaul: three dismissals for 35 runs at an average of 11.67.

England's current bowlers in Lord's Tests

Bowler	Tests	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
James Anderson	13	58	26.06	56.7	4/ 0
Stuart Broad	10	47	26.82	49.2	2/ 1
Graeme Swann	9	31	27.12	60.5	1/ 0
Steven Finn	5	29	20.65	33.7	1/ 0
Graham Onions	2	10	19.30	24.9	1/ 0
Tim Bresnan	3	5	66.00	136.0	0/ 0

Swann v right- and left-handers in Tests at Lord's

	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Right-handers	10	50.30	100.9
Left-handers	21	16.09	41.3