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Australia has completely dominated Pakistan on day one at Adelaide Oval, reaching stumps at 1-302 after a rain-soaked afternoon disrupted the second Test.
- Australia ended the day 1-302 after winning the toss and electing to bat
- David Warner 166, Marnus Labuschagne 126.
- Rain interrupted play during the evening session
David Warner (166) and Marnus Labuschagne (126) — both centurions from the first Test — compiled 294-runs for the second wicket, the highest partnership in day-night Tests, as Pakistan toiled under the lights.
Australia has never lost a day-night Test and, in such a dominant position after the first day, it appears unlikely that this will be the first.
The ball did little to assist the Pakistan seamers, and with over an hour lost to rain, the tourists were denied use of the second new ball under lights, when it would have expected to move more through the air.
Early on the ball did swing for Pakistan's bowlers — particularly the impressive Shaheen Shah Afridi, who teased both the inside and outside edge of Joe Burns' bat in his first over.
The early swing created an element of doubt in Burns' head, resulting in the Queensland opener edging a Shaheen ball that flew across him to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan for just 4.
However, like the Australian batsmen, any early jitters from the pink ball were quickly settled as Warner and Labuschagne steadily — and comfortably — compiled their runs.
In part, Pakistan's impotency with the pink ball was of their own doing, with 19-year-old debutant Musa Khan in particular straying far too regularly with both line and length to allow the ball to move in the air.
Leg spinner Yasir Shah was also expensive, his only threatening delivery a lbw shout, that Warner hit before it made contact with his pads, late in the day.
None of the Pakistani seamers targeted the stumps, with as little as four per cent of balls projected to hit the stumps mis-way through the truncated second session.
That was in stark contrast to Shaheen's disciplined approach, Musa's fellow 19-year-old regularly testing the batsmen with a probing line just back of a length.
However, none of the Pakistani seamers extracted enough sideways movement from the ball in the early stages to seriously threaten the Australians.
Warner looked supreme, his balanced stroke play and confident run-calling clearly putting his disappointing Ashes form behind him.
The hour-long rain delay that precipitated an early tea had the potential to disrupt the momentum the Australian batsmen had established, but Warner and Labuschagne both carried on where they left off.
Warner's second-consecutive Test century, his first under lights with the pink ball and 23rd overall in Tests, came during an extended night session.
Labuschagne followed suit soon after, coming within inches of bringing up his second Test century with a six after dancing down the pitch to slam Yasir Shah over long off.
That the ball dropped just short mattered little as he made sure of back-to-back tons the very next ball with a push through the leg side.
As the day continued, Pakistan's fielding became increasingly ragged, Shaheen in particular letting his side down with a series of calamitous errors, including inadvertently kicking a slowing ball over the boundary during a chase.
Despite the ease at which Australia scored runs, occasionally the Australian batsmen were too tight in their running, with Imam ul-Haq almost running out Labuschange, only to badly miss his throw.
Australia will continue knowing that by batting for another couple of sessions they can take Pakistan out of the game and, with Steve Smith, Matthew Wade and Travis Head all to come, things look increasingly ominous for the tourists.
Re-live all the action from day one in our live blog.
Topics: cricket, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, australia
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