London, Aug 14 (IANS) The opening day of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia at the Lord's was washed out on Wednesday after persistent rain forced the umpires to not even conduct the toss.

While the match will start on Thursday at its scheduled time, an extra half-hour will be added towards the end of the day's play on each of the remaining four days to make up for the lost time.

Australia currently lead the five-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Birmingham by 251 runs.

--IANS kk/arm