BIRMINGHAM (TIP)- A superb century from Joe Root, his first against Australia since 2015, helped England race to 393/8 before declaring on the opening day of the first Ashes Test, a move that did not bear fruit as the tourists held firm to finish on 14/0 at stumps.
It was a bold move to declare after 78 overs of a first innings, the earliest any team has ever declared in an Ashes series, but it’s not out of character for this team. That is now five first innings declarations from England in 14 Tests.
A thrilling opening day, however, belonged to Root, who, as all eyes were on England’s free-scoring batters to see whether they would stick with their attacking principles, proved his more reserved approach is still as effective as ‘Bazball’.
“Once Joe had got his 100, there were quite a few shots being played, so we sort of sensed it (the declaration) was coming,” Australia’s Josh Hazlewood said.
Many experts predicted in-form England, who had scored at almost five runs per over in 11 Test wins from 13 under Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, would struggle to still score freely in an Ashes series against such a strong Australian bowling attack.
But such doubts were quickly put to bed as Zak Crawley hammered a boundary off the first ball of the innings. It was in stark contrast to the first ball of the last Ashes series, when Mitchell Starc clean bowled England opener Rory Burns, ahead of Australia’s rampant 4-0 success. Root joined Crawley at the crease after the dismissals of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, with Crawley reaching his 50 off just 56 balls.