He edged his second ball just short of Steve Smith at slip and was relieved to be able to walk off shortly afterwards as a sticky and humid day reached its natural stormy end.
He arrived at the crease surrounded by close fielders and the ground buzzing with expectation. Once again, Joe Root was in early, shouldering the immense burden of leading a team in which he stands head and shoulders above the rest as a batsman. Michael Neser delivers for his first wicket in Test cricket. Michael Neser, who had gained some confidence from a breezy 24-ball innings that included five fours and a six, replaced Starc and, inexplicably, Hameed clipped Neser’s second ball as a Test cricketer into the hands of mid-on. Haseeb Hameed played two exquisite cover drives off Starc but had looked a little more uncomfortable against the skiddy right-armer, Jhye Richardson, who sprinted in with all the enthusiasm of a man in his third Test with everything to prove. It was a good ball to get early in an innings, but Burns has suffered a torrid start against Starc and is facing a long tour. Standing at the non-striker’s end for the first ball of the innings, to delay his date with Mitchell Starc, Rory Burns pinged his second ball from the left-armer to the square-leg fence, but edged his third to slip, having been squared up on the back foot. Inevitably - and there was an air of inevitability about what followed - it was too much for the openers.
The witching hour was upon us and England were up against it again. Except it was England who were now batting under immense pressure Australia who were now bowling and in control. This, in a nutshell, was the ideal pre-match scenario, imagined by the boot room planners. Opposition weary after 150 overs in the field - check.
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