England captain Ben Stokes' swashbuckling 155 ha been in vain, as Australia won the second Ashes test at Lord's by 43 runs on an extraordinary final day to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
After the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, Stokes launched a blistering attack, smiting nine sixes and nine fours to raise hopes of a repeat of his brilliant matchwinning knock against the Australians at Headingley four years ago.
With 70 runs needed for victory, he skied Josh Hazlewood to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who had earlier riled him by stumping Bairstow for 10, after the batsman left his crease at the end of an over.
The controversy around Bairstow's stumping and the booing - and later even some abuse in the usually-staid Lord's Long Room - was all around whether the dismissal was firstly legal and secondly within the spirit of the game.
The crowd booed loudly, as Bairstow trudged off, and Stokes responded by striking three sixes in an over off Cameron Green to reach his century and was unbeaten on 108 at lunch, with England needing another 128 to level the series.
He continued the assault after the interval by clubbing Hazlewood for six and was dropped by Steve Smith at deep square leg, the crowd roaring with delight, when the former Australia captain - usually one of the safest pairs of hands - let the ball slip out of his grasp.
Stokes welcomed Mitchell Starc back into the attack with two more maximums, as he and Stuart Broad shared a century partnership for the seventh wicket, the latter contributing 11.
The England fast bowler played a key role, as the drama grew, surviving a series of short-pitched deliveries and trying to rile Carey at every opportunity, holding his bat in the crease at the end of the over and staring intently at the stumps.
Stokes dabbed Green for two to pass 150 off 197 balls, before attempting to clear the ropes again and giving Carey a simple catch, leaving the arena to a standing ovation.
Australia's relief was palpable and the end came quickly.
Ollie Robinson was caught by Smith, off Pat Cummins, for one and Broad's long vigil ended, when he was pouched in the deep by Green off Hazlewood for 11.
Josh Tongue and James Anderson gamely added an unlikely 27 runs, but Starc bowled the former for 19 to dismiss England for 327 and seal victory for the Australians, who celebrated gleefully, as they walked off to more boos from the crowd at the home of cricket.
Smith, named Man of the Match for his first-innings century, paid tribute to Stokes.
"It was a bit of deja vu, for sure," he said. "He's an unbelievable player, some of the things he can pull off... he's a freak.
"I dropped him, so I was glad we got him in the end. I didn't pick it up initially.
"The way he plays, chasing totals, he gets it done. It was just an incredible knock."
Ben Duckett earlier contributed a polished 83, sharing an excellent partnership of 132 with Stokes to drag England back into the match, after they had slumped to 45/4 on Saturday.
After two pulsating matches, Australia have a firm grip on the Ashes, with England needing to win the remaining three games of the series to take back the urn.
"Unfortunately, just wasn't enough today," Stokes told the UK's Sky Sports. "Australia changed the plans in which they were going with me, so I sort of had to change the way that I was going about it as well.
"It's a tough one to swallow, getting so close and being involved in a fantastic game was awesome. We're 2-0 down, but we've got three games left and we've won series 3-0 against New Zealand, 3-0 against Pakistan, so we know we can do it."
Cummins and England counterpart Stokes appeared keen to move on swiftly from the stumping incident.
"I thought it was fair," said Cummins. "You see Jonny [Bairstow] do it all the time - he did it on day one to David Warner, he did it in 2019 to Steve [Smith]," Cummins said.
"It's a really common thing for keepers to do, if they see a batter keep leaving their crease. Cares [Carey], full credit to him, he saw the opportunity, rolled it at the stumps, Jonny left his crease.
"You leave the rest to the umpires. It was all one motion, there was no pause or sneakiness about it... it was 'catch, throw' straightaway."
Stokes was similarly unimpressed by the fuss over the incident, although he added that he wouldn't want to win in such a fashion at the end of an over, which is routinely called by the umpires.
"The first thing that needs to be said is, it is out," Stokes said. "If I was the fielding captain, I would have put a lot more pressure on the umpires to ask them what their decision was around the over and around the spirit of the game, and would I want to potentially win a game with something like that happening - and it would be no."
Disgruntled MCC members verbally abused Australia players, as they walked through the pavilion at the lunch interval.
"Emotions were running high and words were unfortunately exchanged by a small number of members," said the MCC, later confirming that three had been suspended.
Australia's Cummins says he has accepted an apology from the MCC.
"They were quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players, which I know the MCC weren't too happy with," he said. "The MCC came and apologised for the behaviour of some of the members."
The third test at Headingley starts on Saturday.
Reuters/Newshub
