Seamer James Anderson hailed England's tactical play after Australia were put firmly onto the back foot on day two of the second Ashes Test at Lord's.

After England had been bowled out for a slightly disappointing 425, they hit back to reduce their rivals to 156-8.

Anderson said: "We didn't bowl to our plans in Cardiff, but here we put a lot of pressure on their batsmen.

"Marcus North was the perfect example. He couldn't get off the mark and ended up getting out to a false shot."

Anderson impressed with both bat and ball, adding a brisk 29 and sharing in a 47-run stand for the 10th wicket with Graham Onions as England were bowled out for a slightly disappointing 425.

The Lancastrian, 26, then removed opener Phillip Hughes and captain Ricky Ponting to leave Australia reeling at 10-2 before finishing the day as the pick of the bowlers with 4-26, his best Ashes figures.

Flintoff was bowling wonderfully well, a fast and nasty spell Mike Hussey

With the tourists still 70 runs adrift of the follow-on, England are now firmly in control of the match as they seek to draw first blood in the series after escaping the first Test in Cardiff with a draw.

"Everyone wanted to start afresh here," said Anderson.

"We used the fact we got out of jail a little bit in Cardiff and are still in the series at 0-0. We knew we had to take advantage of that.

"We didn't want to waste getting a draw out of that game by coming here and not performing."

Ponting's dismissal was tinged with controversy.

It appeared his bat made contact with his foot rather than the ball as attempted to fend off an Anderson inswinger.

But he was given out by South African umpire Rudi Koertzen after being Andrew Strauss took a catch at slip.

"I had gone up for lbw, but the umpire said he hit it," Anderson told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"There were two noises. I wasn't sure whether it hit his foot or bat, but it was the umpire's decision."

Andrew Flintoff was once again outstanding with the ball, bowling at speeds of 95mph to end day two with figures of 1-27 from 12 overs.

"It was a really good spell from 'Fred'," said Anderson.

"He can take just as much credit as me for taking his wicket. When he is bowling 95mph, you can't do much with him.

Test Match Special blog Flintoff absolutely motored in, almost hurling his body at the batsmen as well as the ball BBC Sport's Oliver Brett

"Australia like to score quickly, which they did at Cardiff, but we bowled in partnerships with lots of maidens."

Australia looked threatening as they recovered to 103-2 after their early setbacks, but a fantastic catch from Stuart Broad at fine leg to end Simon Katich's innings swung the match back in England's favour.

"We've caught really well," said Anderson. "Alastair Cook took three really good ones and Broady's was fantastic - and crucial because they (Katich and Michael Hussey) were putting a partnership together."

Australia's top scorer Mike Hussey praised England's committed bowling performance, particularly an aggressive spell from Flintoff after tea.

Hussey perished on 51 when he shouldered arms to a delivery which cut back into the left-hander, clattering into his off stump.

"It was a misjudgement by myself letting the ball go, but Flintoff was bowling wonderfully well, a fast and nasty spell," he said.

"He can run in hard and put a lot of pressure, but you can't really focus on one bowler, otherwise the other guys will take the wickets."

Australia began the day impressively with the prized dismissal of Strauss without adding to his overnight score of 161 from the second ball of the day from Ben Hilfenhaus.

They added two further wickets in two overs before a spirited last-wicket stand between Anderson and Onions pushed England beyond the 400-mark.

"To get three wickets in the first three overs was fantastic," said Hussey.

"Unfortunately we couldn't quite finish them off and knock them over cheaply, which would have given us a lot of momentum with our batting."

With just two wickets remaining, Australia are in danger of being forced to follow-on, but Anderson said England would wait until Saturday to decide the best course of action should they knock off the final wickets cheaply.

"We have to see what the weather is like. If there is a bit of cloud around, we might bowl again and if the sun is out we might bat again," he said.

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