Brisbane, Dec 4 (IANS) Joe Root finally struck his maiden Test hundred in Australia while Mitchell Starc bagged another six-wicket haul as England and Australia shared the honours on the opening day of the second Test of the Ashes series in the Day/Night encounter at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday.

Root, who survived a difficult chace on the third ball he faced as Steve Smith failed to latch onto what could have been a stunning catch at second slip, was batting on 135 not out along with Jofra Archer, on 32, as England, on electing to bat first, reached 325/9 at stumps after another engrossing day of cricket in the five-Test Ashes series. The 34-year-old right-handed batter Root, who has faced a lot of music on not scoring a hundred Down Under so far, finally removed the anomaly from the pages of his illustrious career.

He reached the 40th Test century of his career, reaching the mark off 181 balls (11×4) as he anchored the England innings with a majestic batting effort, rescuing the visitors from a precarious 5/2 in the morning with both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope getting out for zeroes, falling to Starc, Australia’s best bowler in the series so far.

After the hosts decided to give skipper Pat Cummins more time to recover and surprised many by dropping spinner Nathan Lyon for a five-pronged pace attack, Starc, who got Duckett edging to Marnus Labuschagne at first slip with a ball that nipped away a bit for a first-ball duck — his 26th victim in the first over of a Test– and then rattled the stumps to send Pope to the dressing room for a three-ball zero.

In the process, Starc went past Wasim Akram to take his wicket tally to 416, becoming the best left-arm pacer in the history of the game.

Root, who anchored the innings, joined forces with opener Zak Crawley and took England to 122 when Crawley edged behind to Alex Carey off Michael Neser. Crawley, who reached his fifty off 68 balls, and Root shared a 117-run partnership for the third wicket.

The seasoned batter blew hot and cold, continuing to strike a balance between caution and aggression, as he collected the majority of his boundaries from straight drives when the ball was over-pitched. He continued playing his characteristic glides, largely from under his nose, but invariably to a fine gully for no run.

Harry Brook (31) and skipper Ben Stokes added crucial runs with Root, but could not build on the start, especially Brook, and England were soon down to 219/5 and looking set to implore again, especially after their skipper was run out during a horrible mix-up with Root. Jamie Smith was out for zero while Will Jacks could manage only 19 off 31 balls. Gus Atkinson (4) and Brydon Carse fell for single-digit scores to Starc as the pacer completed his six-wicket haul as England slumped to 264/. England lost five wickets for 54 runs in this spell amidst another Starc-inspired collapse.

But Root continued to hold fort. He reached his hundred off 181 balls, studded with 11 fours. He found a willing partner in Jofra Archer (32 not out) as they added 61 runs for the unbeaten 10th wicket partnership in just 7.2 overs.

Though the Aussies would be happy that they have claimed nine England wickets and can hope to continue to fight back on the second day, the opening day of the Pink-ball Test belonged to Root, who finally broke the mental barrier and scored his first hundred on Australian soil. He helped England reach a strong total and helped them dream of levelling the series following their embarrassing two-day capitulation in the first match.

Brief scores:

England 325/9 in 74 overs (Joe Root 135 not out, Zak Crawley 76, Jofra Archer 32 not out; Mitchell Starc 6-71) against Australia.

–IANS

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