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Ashes 2023: Joe Root Smashes A Decisive Ton Against Australia At Day 1 Of 1st Test

Darvesh Bhola

A full house at Edgbaston was treated to a sublime century from Joe Root, an enterprising performance from Australia, and the most recent eye-popping declaration from Ben Stokes on day one of an Ashes series that was expected to be a classic. The pre-match predictions may have overstated the match if this is an indication of things to come.

At the end of their four overs, Australia was 14 for no loss, having not bowled England out but instead launching into a 20-minute test against the new ball. The fifth time their captain has called time on a first innings in just his 15th Test as captain, England had typically raced to 393 for eight from just 78 overs after winning the toss on a pitch with virtually no lateral movement.

Convention predicted that England would score an equal number of runs in the first inning, but Stokes and his head coach, Brendon McCullum, have long abandoned that theory. Although it required the steadfast class of Root and an unbeaten 118 from 152 balls, his 30th Test century and first in an Ashes series since 2015, to prevent an alarming derailment, their team did indeed follow team orders in terms of aggression.

Twitter Reactions After Joe Root’s Knock

https://twitter.com/absoluterippa/status/1669790031656132609?s=20

https://twitter.com/thindpau87/status/1669789757445140481?s=20

https://twitter.com/Prakash1049/status/1669789275490258944?s=20

Together with this, Jonny Bairstow’s run-per-ball 78 helped transform a troubling 175 for five after lunch into a more useful 121-run sixth wicket stand. Australia may still feel they have a chance to make a big response now that Saturday is expected to be fair. When they had the ball, the tourists could still look back on a positive start to the proceedings despite conceding five runs per over.

Another sunny day in south Birmingham saw a river of spectators pour through the gates just in time for the pomp, pageantry, and fireworks that mark the start of a modern Ashes series. The anthems were followed by a somber moment of reflection for the victims of the recent atrocity in Nottingham, and then the most recent addition to the list of illustrious Ashes first balls.

When Zak Crawley leaned into a half-volley from Pat Cummins, it sailed across the immaculate outfield to the cover boundary with an unusually loud sound off the bat. Stokes sat on the England balcony with his mouth open, his bucket hat covering his ears as 25,000 spectators burst out in a cacophony of cheers and laughter. Of course, the England captain would have dreamed of saying something like this the previous evening.

Nevertheless, the hosts’ 4.65 runs per over pace in the first session, with 12 fours struck as a fairly standard return but some 54 singles stolen along with them, was a change from some of their recent antics. Australia had a plan to disrupt the hosts, and Cummins quickly put three boundary riders on the field and largely stuck to it throughout the day.

After all, Cummins had made it clear a day earlier that his team would not be deviating from the strategies that had led them to the title of world Test champions. Was this a case of the tourists blinking first? They were there, though, quickly adjusting to their adversaries. They left for their fill of lunch, however, when Scott Boland dismissed Crawley for 61 just before the break, leaving England 124 for three in the 27th over.

Up until this point, Crawley had played well, but he was undone when he gloved a snorter from Boland behind, one of the few deliveries that had any effect all day. However, an opener who knew going into the series that his position was the subject of much discussion had a strong start to his personal campaign, peeling off seven fours and gladly accepting the opportunity to tip and run in between.

A failed attempt by Ben Duckett to dab the recalled Josh Hazlewood for four early in the innings resulted in Alex Carey being dismissed behind the stumps for the first of the day’s five dismissals. Ollie Pope was otherwise busy until he missed a straight one from Nathan Lyon on 31. The off-spinner spent the majority of the day working around the wicket, and even though he was bowled out for 149 runs in his 29 overs, the four wickets in the final column were well deserved.

The most bizarre of these was the dismissal of Harry Brook following lunch. Brook had been bowled for a previously excellent 32 when a top spinner kicked off the ground, ballooned off the thigh pad, and somehow managed to land and spin onto the stumps after briefly getting lost. England was suddenly 175 for 5 and in danger of losing the toss when Stokes gave Hazlewood his second, driving erratically behind on 1.

But Root and Bairstow turned the tide, with the former cruising along in frictionless fashion (the right-hander loves a fielder at point), and his Yorkshire teammate playing a typically combative hand from his new position at No. 7.

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