After dominating the first Ashes Test, Australia arrived in Adelaide high on confidence but were dealt two huge blows before the Pink-Ball Test. Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the match after suffering a side strain in the first match. Jhye Richardson, the young pacer from Western Australia, was named as Hazlewood’s replacement in the playing XI. On the eve of the second Test, Australia suffered another setback, as Pat Cummins, their new captain, and leader of their pace attack, was ruled out of the match after coming in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person. Michael Neser, the Queenslander quick, who has been Australia’s 12th man on numerous occasions, finally received his Baggy Green, making his debut as Cummins’ replacement to be the 462nd player to represent Australia in Tests.
Steve Smith, who had to relinquish his captaincy under controversial circumstances in 2019, stepped in for Cummins as the captain of Australia. Smith won the toss and chose to bat first against an England attack that had James Anderson and Stuart Broad making a comeback into the playing XI. Mark Wood and Jack Leach had to make way for England’s most prolific bowlers.
A cautious start
Anderson and Broad have always been lethal when the conditions offer a bit of swing, especially with the Pink Ball in hand. As a result, the Australian openers started cautiously against them, trying to negotiate the new ball. A brilliant take from Jos Buttler down the leg side sent Marcus Harris back in the eighth over, with Broad drawing the first blood.
Marnus Labuschagne, the new number two batter in the Test rankings, joined Warner and steadied the ship. It was an attritional session, with Australia not losing more than a wicket but England not giving them any freebies to score runs, as only 45 runs were scored in the 25 overs before Lunch.
Labuschagne and Warner’s prolific run
Warner missed out on yet another hundred as he was dismissed off Ben Stokes on 95. But it wasn’t before he put up a 172-run mammoth partnership with Labuschagne, who himself ended the day unbeaten on 95.
The pair has been the most prolific partnership since 2019, putting up their sixth-century stand in just 12 innings. They have had a fifty-run partnership in 66.67% of the innings they have batted together. Their success at the top also provides Smith with a solid platform to go about his business.
Talking Points
Buttler took an exceptional one-handed diving catch down the leg side to dismiss Harris off Broad but then followed it up by dropping Labuschagne twice. It was the seventh time in his career that Buttler dropped at least two catches in a Test inning, but two of those instances have come in this week.
Warner scored his 32nd Test half-century, but his 50 off 110 balls was his third slowest fifty in Test cricket. He would be disappointed to miss out on yet another hundred, but his innings made sure that England never got on top of Australia on the opening day.
England pacers were patient and were waiting for the batters to commit mistakes. They didn’t target the stumps much and were happy to dry up runs by keeping the ball on good and short length to cut down run-scoring opportunities. They conceded 0.6 runs per over while bowling on a good length, and 2.9 runs per over when they kept the ball on a short length, but when they pitched the ball up on a fuller length to search for wickets, they ended up giving runs at 4.3 RPO.
Smith and Australia will be happy at the end of Day 1, with Australia putting up 225 runs for the loss of just two wickets. Labuschagne will start Day 2 on a nervous note, looking for his sixth Test century. England pacers need to capitalize on that and get early breakthroughs or they will face a huge score when they come out to bat later on Day 2.