Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes Australia's batting performance on day two of the second Ashes Test at Lord's was "awful".

The Baggy Greens were bowled out for 128 runs as they collapsed from 42-0, with Three Lions off-spinner Graeme Swann taking 5-44.

Hussain wrote in his column in the Daily Mail: "I believe they have to stop picking players on so-called talent and make tough decisions about players based on character. You need guys who are prepared to tough it out. Before this series, Ricky Ponting said Australia needed to take a leaf out of New Zealand's book, which was a novel thing to hear from an ex-Aussie captain.

But his point was that if you haven't got many top-class players, you need to scrap and hang on in there, like New Zealand did at home to England in March.

"Yesterday, Australia showed none of the fighting spirit we expect from them. They were just awful."

England finished day two on 31-3, 264 runs ahead of the tourists.