Second Test: Australia win toss, elect to bat, wicket falls in Adelaide

Second Test, day one, Adelaide OVal

First innings: Australia 1/70

Warner 45, Labuschagne 18, 22 overs, early tea break

Pakistan broke through early after Australia won the toss and elected to bat on the opening session of the day-night second Test against Pakistan in Adelaide.

The Australian openers, David Warner and Joe Burns endured two opening maiden overs before David Warner found a gap backward of point to score the first four runs.

But Burns fell soon after for just four, caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan off the bowling of Shaheen Shah Afridi – Australia 1-8.

Warner was joined by Marnus Labuschagne and the pair notched a quickfire 50 partnership to steady the innings.

Rain brought on an early tea break, with the covers brought out after 22 overs.

Rain had earlier delayed play by ten minutes, however wet weather is forecast for the majority of the weekend.

Unchanged from last week’s convincing win at the Gabba, the Aussies are aiming to clean sweep Pakistan in the two-Test series.

The tourists have made three changes following their first Test drubbing.

Seamer Mohammad Abbas was recalled after running through Australia in the UAE last year, while teenage quick Muhammad Musa will debut.

Sixteen-year-old sensation Naseem Shah was dropped following his debut as well as Imran Khan.

Haris Sohail was also omitted, allowing captain Azhar Ali to move to No.3 and Imam-ul-Huq to come into the team as an opener.

Azhar said at the toss he would have bowled first anyway, but Paine insisted it was best to bat in the day on what appears a drier-than-usual Adelaide wicket.

“The wicket looks really good, pink ball, we like to bat first,” he said.

“There might be a bit of rain around so will be interesting to see how the pink ball handles it.”

Australia have never lost a pink-ball Test, with Friday the sixth in their history and the fourth to be played at the Adelaide Oval.

Pakistan meanwhile have played three, having only lost narrowly to Australia in their only day-night clash in the country in 2016 at the Gabba.

The tourists are still searching for their first Test win on Australian soil since 1995, having lost 13 in a row.

With a big crowd expected for day one, the tourists earlier lamented that they have two cracks at the home side in this series.

This summer’s two-Test series is the first time the two teams haven’t met over at least three matches in Australia since 1978-79.

Two-Test series have become far more common in the UAE, where Pakistan has hosted Australia’s last two visits.

With harder pitches and extra bounce in Australia, Pakistan’s batters have little time to adjust from the slow and low wickets of the sub-continent, while bowlers are far too often enticed to bowl too short.

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said touring sides had to learn how long it takes to build pressure on Australian wickets and he wants a longer series having gone 10 months without a red-ball fixture against any nation.

“Obviously we always love to play more Tests,” Azhar said. “As the Pakistan team, we don’t play too many Tests. That’s not good for any team.

“If we play more Tests, we’ll have a better chance to even adjust to different conditions.

“The last time we played three Tests here, and if you see our batsmen scored hundreds in all Tests.

This is one country where you can score big runs. And if you get, here early and get more Tests it will be better.”

Pakistan’s problems exist well beyond Australia. They have played more than two Tests just twice in the last seven series.

AUSTRALIA: Joe Burns, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Tim Paine (c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.

PAKISTAN: Shan Masood, Imam-ul-Huq, Azhar Ali (c), Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Muhammad Musa.

-with AAP