The Ashes: Australia at 46-1 in rain hit first session

Adelaide: Australia reached 46-1 in a rain-interrupted opening session of the second test against England after winning the toss Thursday and batting at the Adelaide Oval.

David Warner stroked four fluent boundaries and raced to 29 from 32 balls before needlessly cutting a wide ball from Stuart Broad (1-26) to Michael Carberry at point with the total at 34. After three breaks due to light rain showers, lunch was called early with Shane Watson on 10 and Chris Rogers on seven. Warner, who scored 49 in the first innings and a century in the second innings of Australia’s 381-run in the first test in Brisbane, will rue the dismissal on an Adelaide wicket expected to favor batsmen. [caption id=“attachment_1267775” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  England were put in to field today. AP[/caption] Michael Clarke won the toss for the second time in the series, and again elected to bat first. Australia retained the XI which won the first test, giving Clarke the same starting lineup in back-to-back tests for the first time in 12 months. The departure of Jonathan Trott with a stress-related illness after the first test forced several changes in the England lineup. Joe Root moved up the order to replace Trott at No. 3 and New Zealand-born Ben Stokes was selected for his test debut, with England opting for the Durham allrounder and recalling spinner Monty Panesar rather than adding Tim Bresnan as a third seamer and giving batsman Gary Ballance a debut at No. 6. Stokes has played 10 limited-overs internationals and four Twenty20 matches for England. The drop-in pitch at the revamped Adelaide Oval played to expectations in the first session, playing flat and giving the bowlers little assistance. Reverse swing and spin could emerge as factors as the ball gets older and the foot marks appear. Australia unsettled England with some fiery short-pitch bowling in Brisbane, but its pacemen were unlikely to extract anywhere near the same bounce out of the Adelaide wicket. England had an innings victory in the previous Ashes test played at the Adelaide Oval to set up a series win. On that occasion, Australia lost three quick wickets in the first few overs and never got back into the contest. AP