Ashes 2021-22: Australia v England second Test, day one – live! | Sport

71st over: Australia 198-2 (Labuschagne 85, Smith 5) Another maiden, from Root to Smith. We are nine overs from a new ball.

70th over: Australia 198-2 (Labuschagne 85, Smith 5) A big appeal for lbw against Labuschagne, but England decide not to review. It looks probably high, and almost certainly wide. A maiden from Robinson, and that’s drinks, and a chance for the players to calm down from the dizzying pace of this game.

“While we’re putting up random stats, when did Australia last have three different captains in three successive Tests?” wonders Max Bonnell. “I suspect it was in the 1950s: in India in 1956-57, Ray Lindwall was captain in the second Test before Ian Johnson, the regular captain, returned for the third; but when Australia next played a Test, in South Africa in 1957-58, Ian Craig had taken over from Johnson. It may have happened since – can anyone recall?”

69th over: Australia 198-2 (Labuschagne 85, Smith 5) England, and Stokes in particular, just keeps banging it short against Labuschagne, and quite often against Smith. Perhaps the ball would swing under lights, but it’s not really being given a chance. Smith fends the last, but it falls short of Hameed at short leg.

68th over: Australia 192-2 (Labuschagne 80, Smith 5) There’s a fabulous scarlet sunset over Adelaide Oval now. Robinson bowls seven times to Smith, one a no-ball, and the seventh is dispatched past square leg for four.

67th over: Australia 188-2 (Labuschagne 80, Smith 1) Edged! Labuschagne edges a short ball but his own shoulder comes to his rescue, sending the ball looping up and dropping short of Buttler. He’s got away with a few today, has Labuschagne. He had started the over with a couple of pulls, the second of which found a gap.

66th over: Australia 180-2 (Labuschagne 72, Smith 1) Robinson to Smith, and one goes just past the edge, another clips something on its way through – just a pad, it turns out – and the last couple square him up but Smith, a little awkwardly, survives.

65th over: Australia 178-2 (Labuschagne 71, Smith 1) Stokes to Warner, who ignores fact that two fielders have been placed on the boundary for precisely this shot and pulls anyway! It’s not well controlled, but it does go into the gap and away for four. Emboldened, he ignores the field again next ball, and hits it straight to Broad. There is a no-ball here from Stokes, but fortunately it’s not the one that brought the wicket.

Warner is out in the 90s again, after slapping the ball straight to cover!

64th over: Australia 172-1 (Warner 91, Labuschagne 70) Root bowls. They could do with him ripping through a few overs of spin to get them to the 80-over mark and the fresh cherry while they’ve still got enough time to do something with it this evening.

63rd over: Australia 169-1 (Warner 89, Labuschagne 69) Stokes comes on, and is almost into his delivery stride when Warner puts up a hand to tell him to pause. “Oh no, David!” the bowler cries. And he might be thinking something similar as a couple of deliveries later he lifts the ball over point for four. Australia look to have finally located second gear here. Labuschagne then takes a step back to spank one through the covers, so to speak.

62nd over: Australia 160-1 (Warner 84, Labuschagne 65) Warner pulls Anderson for four, after one ball short of 17 boundary-free overs, and then Labuschagne does it too! England’s bowlers have all put in a good shift today, but as a group they are looking short of spark and variety.

61st over: Australia 151-1 (Warner 79, Labuschagne 61) Warner hits Woakes down the ground, and Stokes sets off again.

60th over: Australia 148-1 (Warner 76, Labuschagne 61) Anderson’s first ball moves sharply away from the bat, and Labuschagne watches it go. Later the bowler drops down to field, and almost literally creaks as he gets back up again. If he felt fresh after being rested for the first Test, it’s probably a distant memory by now.

59th over: Australia 146-1 (Warner 76, Labuschagne 59) A couple of singles off Woakes. Almost the entire ground is in shadow now, and we’re waiting for the magic to happen. Something like this, perhaps.

57th over: Australia 144-1 (Warner 75, Labuschagne 58) Poor Ben Stokes twice has to sprint from mid-on/off to the boundary to save a run. He’s puffing after the first run, and then a dot later he’s got to do it again. He does so, though, with a smile.

56th over: Australia 136-1 (Warner 70, Labuschagne 55) “Once again baffled by England’s apparent belief that there are only five sessions in pink-ball tests rather than the usual 15,” sniffs Will Vignoles. “Not quite as odd as the selection for the India pink-ball test earlier this year, and injuries to Archer and Stone haven’t helped, but I don’t understand why England seem to think that they need to put all their eggs in the swing basket when even in England, where the ball moves a lot more than Australia, you still want a balanced attack. The thinking in the camp just seems so muddled under Silverwood.” I’ve got some sympathy with England, who would have picked a very different group of bowlers if they were all injury-free, but there has been some very rum selection decisions in both Tests this series. For all Shane Warne’s grumbling on commentary I don’t think I’d have picked Leach for this one, though.

55th over: Australia 133-1 (Warner 67, Labuschagne 55) Labuschagne inside-edges Woakes’ first delivery, but well wide of the stumps. That yields a couple of runs, and no more follow.

54th over: Australia 131-1 (Warner 67, Labuschagne 53) Anderson gets us restarted. As England toil in the field it’s worth noting the weather forecast: after peaking at 31C today, tomorrow temperatures are expected to reach 36C in Adelaide, an absolute scorcher, and stay in the 30s until midnight. They then drop to 27C on Saturday and 22C on Sunday and Monday. A full day in the field tomorrow will be a grind.

The players are on their way back out. Will the ball move? Will England bowl the 27 overs they require to get their hands on the new ball before the day’s out? The answers to these questions and more will come in the next couple of hours.

53rd over: Australia 129-1 (Warner 65, Labuschagne 53) Root ends the session, with five balls of spin and one surprise unexpected faster ball to close. Four runs off the over, and England need a refresh. 84-0 across the session. “So, it turns out the time between hope and despair is 4 hours and forty minutes,” writes Phil Withall. “It’s the misplaced expectation that does you.”

52nd over: Australia 125-1 (Warner 63, Labuschagne 51) Lovely ball from Robinson to Labuschagne! Somehow he doesn’t get anything on it, and then he drives past mid-off for a few to bring up his half-century, off 156 balls. He has played and missed plenty, and been dropped by Buttler, along the way.

51st over: Australia 119-1 (Warner 61, Labuschagne 48) Root does some spin – and it does spin! That will be massively encouraging for, um, teams with spinners! Labuschagne works one round the corner, just wide of Stokes at leg slip, diving to his right. Then Warner tries a reverse sweep – apparently just the second reverse sweep he has attempted in Test cricket – which flicks off his bat, goes up onto his right shoulder, rolls down his back and heads towards the stumps, but doesn’t quite get there.

A full list of the batters who have reached 3,000 runs in fewer innings than Labuschagne:

22 innings – Don Bradman (Australia)
32 innings – George Headley (West Indies)
33 innings – Herbert Sutcliffe (England) and Michael Hussey (Australia)
34 innings – Marnus Labuschagne (Australia)

50th over: Australia 113-1 (Warner 60, Labuschagne 43) Alastair Cook pipes up with a bit of match analysis. “They’ve got to keep going. If it does start nipping around and they get Australia five down on what looks a pretty good wicket, they’ve had a good day.” That is one very busy if there.

Meanwhile Labuschagne hits straight for three to pass 2,000 career Test runs, in just his 20th match.

49th over: Australia 107-1 (Warner 58, Labuschagne 38) Warner clips past point for a couple to bring up the 100 partnership, 101 off 249 to be precise.

48th over: Australia 103-1 (Warner 56, Labuschagne 37) Robinson to Labuschagne. “No run!”

47th over: Australia 103-1 (Warner 56, Labuschagne 37) Labuschagne gets three after Hameed dives over the ball at square leg, not his first misfield of the day. England are keeping it tight, patiently waiting for the moment the ball starts to hoop around. Or for bedtime, whichever comes sooner.

46th over: Australia 100-1 (Warner 56, Labuschagne 34) Beauty! Labuschagne plays and misses as Woakes gets one to leave him. Warner starts the over with a bit of aggression, even if his drive is cut off at the rope. He’s been a different batter since drinks, when he has gone full-on attack at the first scent of a hittable delivery: 4 . 4 . . . . 3 . 3 . .

45th over: Australia 96-1 (Warner 53, Labuschagne 33) Hello! Broad’s back, and Warner biffs his first ball down the ground! The ball plugs when it returns to earth and they run three, but smell that intent! Labuschagne then faces the last five, without scoring.

“I have a lovely memory of taking my very bright eight-year-old son to the 1994-95 Ashes game at Adelaide Oval,” writes Don. “An English batter hit a ball racing to the boundary with the Aussie fielder chasing it. The crowd was calling out and he asked me why. I said because they are encouraging him to get the ball. He looked at me and said, ‘But surely he is already running as fast as he can.’ England won that game. And he is now an anaesthetist.”

44th over: Australia 93-1 (Warner 50, Labuschagne 33) Woakes finds Labuschagne’s edge this time, but it goes low to third slip with a bounce or two along the way. The next is a slow full toss which the batter clips square for four. The next is pushed gently back to the bowler. “No run!”

“England’s dismal (and entirely predictable) over rate suggests that they’ll lose five or six new ball overs tonight,” writes Gary Naylor. “That really will be unforgivable if it transpires.”

43rd over: Australia 87-1 (Warner 50, Labuschagne 27) Stokes to Labuschagne, with a silly mid-off and a short leg waiting in case he fends one of the many short balls being sent his way into the air. He doesn’t. Five more dots, another loud shout of “No run!” as the ball rolls gently to midwicket, which seems mainly of comic value, and then a single off the last.

42nd over: Australia 86-1 (Warner 50, Labuschagne 26) Woakes to Labuschagne, who gets one to leave the right-handed Labuschagne nicely, even if the batter isn’t that close to getting anything on it.

41st over: Australia 85-1 (Warner 50, Labuschagne 25) Hello everyone! During the drinks break Stuart Broad gives a little on-field interview, looking forward to the time twilight hits, “it starts moving and we can put the slips back in and take some wickets”. We’ll see about that. Warner, having taken on some fluids, converts it into liquid cricket and hits Stokes for two boundaries, including a super back-foot hoist over cover, to reach his half-century off 108 balls!

40th over: Australia 77-1 (Warner 42, Labuschagne 25) Chris Woakes is back. Hasn’t looked like a great threat today. He isn’t helped by a misfield at point that lets Warner off strike, after Warner has just punched two.

Ian Walton has some questions about Buttler. “How many chances does he get as both wickey and bat? Pick the best keeper, can’t do much worse as a bat either and Ben Foakes can wield a decent willow. He’ll make up for any perceived weakness by being a proper wickey. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and want red ball players for red ball (and pink, ok!) and white ball players for pyjama cricket. Buttler only committed to the tour late anyway.”

I can’t disagree with much of that. Buttler in about 2017 looked like he could be transformative in Test cricket in the way he was in one-dayers. It hasn’t panned out though.

39th over: Australia 74-1 (Warner 39, Labuschagne 25) Here’s a hot stat: only once has Warner played a slower innings than this having faced over 100 balls. (Obviously this can change if he speeds up, but still.)

Labuschagne, similarly, sees off another Stokes over.

38th over: Australia 74-1 (Warner 39, Labuschagne 25) Warner opens up a bit against Root. First he goes over mid-off for a couple, Stokes chasing back and then asked to stay halfway back to the fence by Root. Warner goes again through cover, and there’s a rider on that rope to keep the scoring to one.

37th over: Australia 69-1 (Warner 36, Labuschagne 23) Stokes short, Labuschagne rides the bounce and glances fine for one. Three fielders out on the rope for Warner on the hook, plus three closer to the bat on the leg side, but he sways away from the bouncer. Pulls a slightly less short ball, trying to go in front of midwicket but can’t elude Broad there. Stokes bowls another proper bouncer that has Warner bailing out of the shot, then bluffs with a full ball that misses off stump.

36th over: Australia 68-1 (Warner 36, Labuschagne 22) Root to try to burn through some overs, but Warner fires him to the cover boundary instead. A couple of singles follow. That must be the biggest over Australia has had all day.

35th over: Australia 62-1 (Warner 31, Labuschagne 21) Ben Stokes with the short-ball barrage approach again, and it nearly works!

England drop another catch.

Oh, this team. Rory Burns in Brisbane, Jos Buttler in Adelaide. The ball is about ribcage height, tending towards leg. Labuschagne steps across and swivels to try to catch it up. Gets a fat chunk of glove on it. Buttler has to go high to his left, but not outrageously so in either aspect. That’s regulation for a keeper. He gets it in his left palm, then somehow it pops out again.

Marnus is nailed on for a big score now.

34th over: Australia 61-1 (Warner 30, Labuschagne 21) Another Anderson over for one run to Warner. The bowler taking a very leisurely approach to getting back to his mark.

“Any chance that England might try and bowl more than 26 overs in the last session, given that their entire test cricket strategy for the last three years has been built around exploiting the pink ball at Adelaide?”

I doubt it, Peter Salmon, I doubt it.

33rd over: Australia 60-1 (Warner 29, Labuschagne 21) Just over, this time! Marnus hooks Robinson just over square leg, who is up about 30 paces from the bat. Broad under the sunhat, who leaps up one-handed, back-handed, but it’s a metre too high for him.

This is a weird old innings from Labuschagne. Gets four for another streaky shot, in between impersonating a traffic island.

32nd over: Australia 56-1 (Warner 29, Labuschagne 17) An edge from Labuschagne! That’s the most eventful thing we’ve seen in a while. Anderson draws the nick but Marnus has soft hands and the edge dies in front of the cordon. He pushes a single to point next ball.

31st over: Australia 55-1 (Warner 29, Labuschagne 16) Robinson gets back in the channel for this over, settling in at Warner and doing it nicely. Slips too short once and is cut, but saved at point. Otherwise, it’s another quiet one.

The sun is getting lower, the shadows of the billowing roof of the stand are reaching across the field, and it’s still very warm out there.

30th over: Australia 55-1 (Warner 29, Labuschagne 16) This is a real bunker innings from Labuschagne. Gets beaten once by Anderson, past the edge again, while defending the rest. No attempt to score. Recognising that this is good bowling and all he has to do is wait it out.