Thursday, 15 August 2019:

GLENN MCGRATH

Australia have taken the field for the second Ashes Test in baggy red caps to help mark the Ruth Strauss Foundation Day at Lord's.

In a move inspired by the annual Jane McGrath Day at the Sydney Test, members of the crowd were encouraged to wear red to help launch the charity set up by former England skipper Andrew Strauss.

Strauss, who lost his Australian-born wife Ruth in December to a rare form of lung cancer at the age of 46, was handed the caps by Tim Paine and his squad as they walked out of the pavilion to start day two of the rain-delayed match.

He was greeted warmly by many of the players, in particular Peter Siddle, who played against Strauss in three Ashes series.

The caps will be auctioned by the foundation, which has been set up to help fund research into rare forms of lung cancers and provide wellbeing and support to patients and their families who are suffering the disease.

"It's been a tough seven months since Ruth died and a tough 12 months before it," Strauss told BBC Radio.

"But you need to stay busy, my boys are still at school and life goes on and we deal with things on a day-to-day basis.

"It's year one for us and we are not all whistles and bells yet but, if we can in some way replicate some of what the Jane McGrath Foundation - who have really paved the way for us - have done, I will be very proud."

AAP