Joe Root scores superb Ashes century before England declare against Australia

Read More

An Ashes series tipped to be a classic did not disappoint on day one, with a full house at Edgbaston treated to a sublime century from Joe Root, an enterprising performance from Australia, and the latest eye-popping declaration from Ben Stokes. If this is a sign of things to come, the pre-match predictions may have undersold the contest.

At stumps Australia found themselves 14 for no loss from four overs, not having bowled England out but rather plunged into a 20-minute examination against the new ball. After winning the toss on a pitch offering next to no lateral movement, England had typically raced their way to 393 for eight from just 78 overs – the fifth time their captain has pulled the pin on a first innings in just his 15th Test in charge.

Convention pointed to England amassing as many first-innings runs but then Stokes and his head coach, Brendon McCullum, have long since thrown convention out of the window. Their side certainly met team orders in terms of aggression, even if it took the permanent class of Root and an unbeaten 118 from 152 balls – his 30th Test century and a first in an Ashes series since 2015 – to prevent an alarming derailment.

Allied with this was a run-a-ball 78 from Jonny Bairstow in a rollicking 121-run stand for the sixth wicket that turned a troubling 175 for five after lunch into something more serviceable. Still, with Saturday set fair, Australia may well sense their chance to go big in response. And with the ball, despite shipping a run-rate of five an over, the tourists could still reflect on an encouraging start to proceedings.

This was another sun-soaked day in south Birmingham, the river of spectators streaming through the gates in good time for the pomp, pageantry and pyrotechnics that precede a modern Ashes series. And after a poignant moment of reflection for the lives lost during the recent atrocity in Nottingham, followed by the anthems, came the latest entry into the list of famous Ashes first balls.

The sound off the bat was something else, Zak Crawley leaning into a half-volley from Pat Cummins and sending it careering along the pristine outfield to the cover boundary. As 25,000 onlookers boomed out a mix of cheers and laughter, Stokes sat on the England balcony open-mouthed under his bucket hat. This, needless to say, was the statement the England captain would have dreamed of the night before.

That said, an absorbing first session in which the hosts rattled along at 4.65 runs per over was a departure from some of their recent exploits, with the 12 fours struck a fairly standard return but some 54 singles pilfered with them. Australia, it quickly became clear, had a plan to disrupt the hosts, Cummins deploying three boundary riders from the outset and largely sticking to this all day.

Was this a case of the tourists blinking first? After all, Cummins had stressed a day earlier that his team would not be departing from the methods that had taken them to the title of world Test champions. And yet here they were, instantly adapting to their opponents. But when Scott Boland removed Crawley for 61 on the stroke of lunch to see England 124 for three in the 27th over, they walked off for their tucker content.

Crawley had played a positive hand up to this point only to be undone by one of the few deliveries that did anything all day as he gloved a snorter from Boland behind. Still, an opener who came into the series knowing his place is the source of much debate enjoyed a strong start to his personal campaign, peeling off seven fours and gladly taking up the chance offered to tip and run in between.

Ben Duckett fared less well, an early attempt to dab the recalled Josh Hazlewood for four giving Alex Carey the first of five dismissals behind the stumps on the day, while Ollie Pope was busy enough until on 31 he missed a straight one from Nathan Lyon. The off-spinner operated around the wicket for the bulk of the day and, though taken for 149 runs from his 29 overs, the four scalps in the final column were well earned.

Most bizarre among them was the removal of Harry Brook after lunch, bowled for a previously crackling 32 when a top-spinner kicked off the surface, ballooned off the thigh pad and – having been briefly lost by everyone – somehow landed and spun onto the stumps. And when Stokes handed Hazlewood his second, driving loosely behind on one, England were suddenly 175 for five and in danger of squandering the toss.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

But Root and Bairstow turned the tide, the former cruising along in frictionless fashion – no fielder at point is catnip to the right-hander – and his Yorkshire teammate playing a typically pugnacious hand from his new berth at No 7.

The two Tykes make a terrific pairing, this their 11th century stand in Test cricket and the latest to see wing-heeled running combine with touches of pure class.

Once Bairstow fell after tea, stumped attempting to propel Lyon down the ground, and Moeen Ali fell the same way for an all-too fleeting 18 on his Test return, it was over to Root to shepherd the tail. The reverse scoop had already seen by this point, Root lifting Boland over the slip cordon in the first chastening day of the right-armer’s late-blooming career, and bringing it out of the locker in a late surge.

Three figures was a moment of catharsis for the former captain and though David Warner and Usman Khawaja held firm before the close, it’s fair the man who replaced him is doing things differently.