Australia leads England by 172 runs at tea on Day 3 at Lord's

The stickability of Khawaja and Warner in a stand of 63 from 24 overs was in stark contrast to England’s performance in the morning

Australia stretched its lead to 172 runs against England for the loss of David Warner's wicket by tea on day three Friday of the second Ashes test.

With a first-innings lead of 91, Australia crawled to 81-1 in its second innings.

Usman Khawaja was on 45 and Marnus Labuschagne on 8 after overturning a leg before decision against him on 3.

Until Warner was leg before wicket to Josh Tongue, Lord's had grown quiet after lunch as he and Khawaja handled difficult batting conditions superbly.

The floodlights could only partly leaven the gloomy skies as the wind picked up with a threat of drizzle.

The stickability of Khawaja and Warner in a stand of 63 from 24 overs was in stark contrast to England's performance in the morning, when only Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Broad scored more than 10 runs of the seven batters on show. England slumped from 278-4 overnight to 325 all out before lunch.

But the home bowlers couldn't make the same breakthroughs that Australia's did in the morning.