The Ashes, 2nd Test: Warner and Labuschagne rebuild Australia's innings

Hours before the start of the match, Australia captain Pat Cummins was ruled out after being deemed close contact of a Covid-19 case. It brought Steve Smith back as the captain for the first time since 2018. Cummins' absence paved the way for pacer Michael Neser to debut in Test cricket apart from Jhye Richardson replacing an injured Josh Hazlewood in the playing eleven. 

After Smith elected to bat first, Anderson and Broad provided limited scoring opportunities and challenged the outer edges of Harris and Warner. Harris, saved by DRS on lbw off Broad, was the first wicket to fall for Australia, brilliantly caught down the legside by keeper Jos Buttler diving to his right off Broad. 

England went on to burn their two reviews in order to send Warner back to the dressing room. Broad thought he had Warner lbw on 0 in the eighth over while Chris Woakes chased an lbw against Warner. After 12 overs, Australia had just 15 on the board with Warner getting off the mark on his 20th ball. 

With Labuschagne from the other end, Warner settled down and struck a couple of boundaries against Broad and Woakes. Labuschagne seemed to be in trouble by short balls from Ben Stokes despite getting a boundary off him. The second session, in the twilight, will pose more questions for Australia as England will try to push them on backfoot. 

Brief scores: Australia 45/1 in 25 overs (David Warner 20 not out, Marnus Labuschagne 16 not out, Stuart Broad 1/17) against England