Smith (18 not-out) and Labuschagne (95 not-out) guided Australia to 2-221 at stumps on day one and the home team can now look to fry England in the sweltering 37C heat before getting the new pink ball into Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser’s hands to hoop around under the Friday night lights.
England invoked bodyline tactics as warrior Ben Stokes was given a licence to rattle Australia’s top order and go after Labuschagne with a bumper barrage that posed questions but were ultimately answered.
A sell-out crowd of 32,328 clapped their hands red as Smith walked out to face the pink ball as Test captain some 1363 days after the sandpaper scandal ripped his reputation to shreds in Cape Town.
Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley said the public would embrace Smith’s stunning and sudden return and hours later fans at Adelaide Oval gave the man who averages 70.6 as captain a rousing welcome.
“Certainly they support Steve. I think we ran a really constructive thorough process for his reappointment as vice-captain and we’re just so fortunate we’ve got Steve ready to step up,” Hockley said.
SCROLL DOWN FOR HOW THE ACTION UNFOLDED ON DAY ONE
After captain Pat Cummins shook hands with a Covid patient, which cost him a place in the iconic day-night Test, England attempted to test the patience of David Warner and Labuschagne by banging it in short.
But they ducked and weaved their way through the onslaught as Labuschagne crawled to 95 (275 balls) and became the third-fastest Aussie to 2000 Test runs (34 innings), behind only Donald Bradman (22) and Mike Hussey (33).
With the assistance of Jos Buttler, it was Labuschagne’s day. The butter-fingered wicket-keeper put Labuschagne down on 21, a tough chance off Stokes, and again on 95, a silver-service sitter off Jimmy Anderson that will keep Buttler awake at night.
Labuschagne got jumpier and jumpier after the sunset but somehow hang on until stumps.
It was also Labuschagne’s week as he leapfrogged Smith as the ICC’s No.2 ranked batsman on the planet after the first Test.
Fast bowling great Brett Lee said Labuschagne looked like a completely different player when England went “upstairs” and the tactics dried up the run-machine’s scoring zones either side of the dinner break.
Labuschagne was given few loose deliveries to pounce on, but to his credit he was largely unfazed and even absorbed 36 consecutive balls without scoring. He raised his hands and let one Stokes delivery cannon into his sternum before ducking out of the way of a 137km bouncer the very next ball.
Staggeringly, 95 per cent of deliveries from England’s seamers would’ve missed the stumps.
“Well played Marnus,” Labuschagne told himself after getting out of the way of another Stokes bouncer.
Importantly, Labuschagne survived, adjusted and then began to thrive as England’s tactics showed they have few answers to his bullet-proof batting.
“When you go away from (bowling at) the top of off (stump) it’s a good thing as a batter,” Labuschagne told Fox Cricket.
Labuschagne refused to bite at the bumper treatment on a pitch that looked dryer than usual and Merv Hughes suspected was tough to score on but easy to bat on.
England’s slow over-rate in Brisbane meant it played for free, but $297,000 worth of fines hardly worked as a deterrent after captain Joe Root rolled out an all-out pace attack that unleashed bouncer after bouncer.
Not only did the bumper barrage in Adelaide fail to get England into the series, it was also delivered so sluggishly that it could once again cost players thousands of dollars.
Shane Warne wants the ICC to consider banning captains who dawdle in the field but England’s sluggish pace did cost them an over with the second new ball under lights.
Local boy Travis Head said playing a spinner in this Test was an absolute must but England dumped Jack Leach and again overlooked off-spinner Dom Bess, a surprising decision given Australia’s glut of left-handed batters.
Leach was never going to be overly effective at the Gabba, but the Adelaide Oval pitch does offer turn and bounce and the venue’s two leading wicket-takers of all-time are Shane Warne and Nathan Lyon.
Fielding an attack without a spinner also exacerbates England’s over-rate problem and forced Root to send down 11 overs, which was just one less than Stuart Broad with the first new ball..
Relive all the action in our blog below.
Updates
And that's stumps – a gutsy batting display from Australia, who will be thrilled with their position.
After losing the early wicket of Marcus Harris – who must surely be on the cusp of losing his Test spot once again – Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner added 172 for the second wicket to take full control of the match.
It was a grinding partnership, with runs coming at a premium, but after the struggles came the runs.
Warner was furious with himself for throwing away a century when he was dismissed for 95, but he was superb having come into the match in serious doubt with badly bruised ribs.
Labuschagne, who added 45 with Smith under lights to leave Australia on 2-221 at stumps, was dropped on 21 and 95 – the latter an absolute sitter – is just five runs from his seventh Test century.
Steve Smith, in his return to the Test captaincy following the incredible Pat Cummins developments this morning, is unbeaten on 18.
But Australia will return to Adelaide Oval tomorrow in a strong position thanks to the patient, dedicated batting of Warner and Labuschagne.
We'll be back tomorrow for another day of action – and potentially another run-filled day for the Australians.
It's uncomfortable out in the middle right now, the ball is swinging and seaming all over the place.
But Smith and Labuschagne are doing a fantastic job of battening down the hatches and just plugging away for stumps.
You'd think Labuschagne (on 95) has put the century to the back of his mind and just wants to survive the next over.
He'll be on strike, facing Stuart Broad.
England will fail to get through their allotted 90 overs – even with the extra half hour of play. They'll have 89 overs to their name today.
Oh my!
That's a shocker. A genuine shocker. Beautiful delivery from Anderson, draws the edge from Marnus – on 95 – and it could not possibly be a more straightforward catch for a wicketkeeper.
Straight into the gloves, and inexplicably… straight out.
Buttler took a remarkable catch to dismiss Marcus Harris earlier today. But he's dropped two since then. None worse than this one though, that's as bad as it gets.
"You just don't see that. You just do not see international wicket keepers make simple errors like that," Ricky Ponting said on 7.
"Normally there is an reason for it. A bit of wobble on the seam. One that is low and diving low and they are diving forward to. You just don't see that, ever."
And it looks like it stung, too. Injury to insult.
It's all about survival for Australia here – less than 20 minutes to go until stumps, and the runs have dried up although Steve Smith finishes the Stuart Broad over with a nice push through the covers for four.
Australia are 2-217 and in a really strong spot should these two walk off arm-in-arm at stumps.
England are probing, and would be keen to deny Marnus Labuschagne his century tonight.
They'll want it to keep him up tonight.
Six runs to go to a century, and Marnus has just been floored by a Stuart Broad delivery that deceived him a touch and…. well, it might have hit him in a sensitive area.
And it might have hit him on his right forearm as well, before travelling further and catching him in, ahem, a delicate spot.
He's followed it up with two play-and-misses but I wouldn't be blaming the low blow. They're just excellent deliveries.
Broad pitching it up and letting the ball do the work, excellent seam position and getting serious movement away from the batsman.
Marnus has done well to miss those, to be fair.
And here it is – the new ball.
And England will get about 35 minutes with it – Joe Root has ripped through some recent overs which has picked up the runrate for Australia, but will give England an extra one or two overs with the new ball under lights.
Do you go with Jimmy and Broad? Or has Chris Woakes, and his pink-ball record, given him a chance to impress?
I'd say it's the old fellas who will get first crack.
Marnus unbeaten on 94. So if he is to get his century tonight, he'll be doing it the hard way.
Marnus moves to 92… with four overs to go until the new ball and what will be a very tense half hour period.
You'd imagine Marnus will be very keen to pick up those eight runs before the new rock emerges in the hands of Jimmy Anderson.
Joe Root has been getting a lot of spin today, which is interesting – especially for Nathan Lyon who could play a big role this test.
Eight overs to go until the new ball…. and just half an hour until the scheduled finish time.
Teams get an extra half hour to complete their overs for the day, but England are unlikely to be able to get their full alotment of 90 overs today. Meaning their slow over rate is going to cost them dearly – you want the new pink ball under lights, and they're going to waste that.
It appears Joe Root is onto it now, having thrown himself into the attack. But is it too little, too late?
Meanwhile, Australia brings the 200 up. This has been some day, considering how difficult batting conditions appeared earlier.
