Stokes wins battle with Labuschagne but England are losing the war again

Hello and welcome to live, over-by-over coverage of day two at the SCG, where England will resume in an almost disconcertingly good positions. They reached 211/3 in just 45 overs on a truncated first day, with Joe Root (72*) and Harry Brook (78*) adding 154 largely untroubled runs on a flat Sydney pitch. The weather forecast is fine so we should get a full day – which probably means around 80 overs given the lack of a specialist spinner on either side.

Brook played a few risky strokes, particularly when Australia set the field for short-pitched bowling, but for the most part he collected runs with ease and is now just 22 short of his first Ashes century.

“It’s obviously a ploy which has been used against me in my whole career,” said Brook of Australia’s tactics “I’ve experienced it a lot so far and I’m expecting to experience it a lot in the future.

“I could have played it better at times. It didn’t feel amazing today but on another day it’ll feel a hell of a lot better, so I’m happy that I got through it and can take that momentum forward. I’ve got to be a little bit patient at times, whether that’s taking my ones instead of trying to hit boundaries, then so be it. It’s obviously not worked this series because I haven’t scored as many runs as I’d have liked.”

Brook could still end the series as England’s leading runscorer. He is currently on 310, four ahead of Root, and both will hope to add plenty more if they get through the initial burst from Australia’s seamers. It’s eight years since England scored 400 in a Test in Australia; they will kick themselves if they don’t change that in the next few hours.