Ashes 2021-22: Australia v England second Test, day two – live!

94th over: Australia 238-2 (Labuschagne 102, Smith 27) Oof! When is the last time James Anderson knocked a bat out of someone’s hand? And with a delivery at 127 kph, too. Labuschagne may – outlandish I know – have added some spice to that. A slightly shorter ball that hits up near the gloves and his bat goes flying.

Two balls later though, he opens the face and steers Anderson away, between slip and gully, for four! There it is. A highly patient innings, in between two huge slices of luck. He follows it up with a brace through midwicket.

93rd over: Australia 232-2 (Labuschagne 96, Smith 27) Broad carries on with his tight line, but as soon as there’s an error, Smith leaps on it again. A length floated full, and Smith sends it flowing through the covers for four. Broad gestures to himself in annoyance about where the delivery went wrong.

92nd over: Australia 228-2 (Labuschagne 96, Smith 23) Anderson tries a couple of short ones early. Smith pulls a single, Labuschagne pulls the bat inside the line. Two slips, a fairly deep gully, cover, mid-off, mid-on, midwicket, square leg, long leg.

91st over: Australia 227-2 (Labuschagne 96, Smith 22) Stuart Broad from the Cathedral End, with the grass hill and the giant fig trees behind him. (The figs… no wonder Kevin Pietersen liked batting here so much.) He’s over the wicket to the right-handed Labuschagne, after spending so much of yesterday around the wicket. And already it doesn’t look difficult for Labuschagne to block a couple, glance a single.

This was a brutal toss to lose.

90th over: Australia 225-2 (Labuschagne 95, Smith 22) A couple of leaves from Smith to begin, one pulling the bat inside the line in a way that draws a vocal response from some of the crowd. Anderson strays wide with one ball, and Smith stands up tall to force off the back foot behind point for four! Decisive shot.

We’re off. Jimmy Anderson with the newish ball. Smith on strike.

Tell you what, the specialist spinner will have a lot to do in these conditions…

Sorry?

The last bits of warm-up equipment get ferried off the ground. A couple of kids holding flags wait at the end of the players’ races. A few uninterested security guards dot the boundary. The big remote-control camera buggy prowls the outfield like a dystopian sentinel. Black Mirror cricket is about to begin.

The walk down through Adelaide’s central city to the ground was slightly more intense today than yesterday. Wouldn’t fancy bowling 30 overs of pace in it.

Weather update: as already mentioned, it’s hot – the mercury has now tipped 37C. But there’s also some cloud cover today, and it’s blustery out there in the middle.

Think it’s fair to say there will be a degree of scrutiny on Jos Buttler today, not least from the Adelaide crowd, who were on his back towards the end of play yesterday after he spilled that late chance to send Labuschagne packing.

And excitingly, here is our Guardian Ashes Daily podcast again: a collaboration between Emma, me, and Adam Collins.

I wrote about Australia largely getting away with losing a captain to Covid restrictions on the first morning.

Emma John naturally harked back to Bodyline, in 1932-1933. Starring Hugo Weaving as Douglas Jardine.

Right, what have we got for you from day one at Adelaide? Here’s the match wrap from Ali Martin, who was tapping away next to me in the press box.