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England made the curious choice to bowl first on a flat pitch but finished day 1 of the Adelaide Test on even terms with Australia yesterday.
Having secured the enormous wicket of batting behemoth Steve Smith, England should feel contented by restricting Australia to 4/209 on a deck which offered limited assistance to the bowlers.
While the first two day-night matches at Adelaide saw juiced-up pitches designed to protect the pink ball from degrading too quickly, this surface looked far drier even in photos released three days before the Test started.
Already at that stage the deck looked much more like a traditional Adelaide pitch, brimful of runs, so it was surprising to see England skipper Joe Root deciding to bowl first upon winning the toss. Root backed his star quicks James Anderson and Stuart Broad to do enough damage with the new ball to justify his choice.
After an hour it looked like a mistake. The pink ball had barely swung at all and there was no seam movement afforded by the hard, dry surface. Broad and Anderson bowled solidly with the new ball but never looked like scything through the Australian batting line-up.
It took a mix-up between opener David Warner and Cameron Bancroft for England to make their first breakthrough in the form of a run out.
Broad, Anderson, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali bowled with fine discipline to restrict the scoring options of Warner. Rarely does the aggressive opener face 100 balls without having reached his half-century.
Yesterday, on 47 from 101 balls, Warner lost his patience and tried to play a forcing shot through the offside from a Woakes delivery which would have been better left alone or defended.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
The delivery kissed Warner’s edge and landed in the gloves of Jonny Bairstow. In the first Test at Brisbane England had introduced spinner Moeen soon after Usman Khawaja arrived at the crease and picked up the Australian first drop cheaply.
Yesterday Khawaja had been in the middle for nearly an hour by the time he had to encounter spin. After being caught on the crease by Moeen at the Gabba, he signalled his intent early by skipping down the wicket to the third ball he faced from the tweaker.
Soon after, Khawaja advanced once more and looked to play a lofted drive over wide mid off, a shot he has employed with great success against spinners over the past two Australian summers.
On this occasion his timing was off and the ball lobbed into the outfield for two.
While that shot was not executed correctly, the effect of Khawaja using his feet was immediately apparent. Moeen pulled back his length, overcorrected and offered Khawaja two balls to cut to the boundary.
The left-hander then moved fluidly to 53 before aiming a loose drive at a delivery from James Anderson and giving James Vince a catch in the gully.
It was a crucial time for England to make a breakthrough with the lights having just come into effect. One of the fascinating aspects of day-night Tests is the way that, even if the ball is not swinging or seaming, batting becomes significantly more challenging once the lights are turned on.
With both Khawaja and the sun gone, England looked energised. Broad and Anderson combined for a terrific spell early in this session. Regardless, Australian skipper Steve Smith looked immovable – until, that is, the unlikely figure of Craig Overton finally uprooted him.
The lanky English quick had a topsy-turvy introduction to Test cricket. While Overton’s control was questionable, he also produced a clutch of quality deliveries capable of testing any batsman.
His removal of Smith left Australia vulnerable at 4/161 with 19 overs left until stumps. That tricky period was negotiated adeptly by Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb. Batting should be far easier this morning for that pair than it was under lights.
Crease occupation will be key, as Australia would dearly love to push their innings as far towards the second break as possible due to England’s inexperience batting under lights. This Test is beautifully poised heading into day 2.