Everything pointed to bowling first. The skies were brooding, the air was moist, the pitch was green and the floodlights were on. When Ben Stokes won the toss and reconfirmed an England XI now featuring a four-pronged seam attack, not even a captain known for flipping convention could resist the obvious.
But in the end it took a surprise two-wicket intervention from Joe Root to prevent day one of this crunch second Test being fully dominated by Australia. The tourists were still the happier camp come stumps, it must be said, reaching 339 for five from 83 overs – the rate once again poor – with Steve Smith 85 not out from 149 balls.
