Partners in time to stir up some sparks among the Ashes
Scott Bailey |
The yin-and-yang of Harry Brook and Joe Root has headlined England’s best batting day of the Ashes, helping the tourists to 3-211 before a storm ended day one at the SCG early.
With their side down 3-1 in the series and the Ashes decided, Brook and Root’s unbeaten 154-run counter-attacking stand helped rescue England from 3-57 in the fifth Test on Sunday.
The partnership is already England’s best of the tour, with Root unbeaten on 72 and Brook 78 when umpires took players from the field just before tea.
Rain and lightning stopped players returning, before the day was abandoned under brighter skies and with no rain falling at 5pm (AEDT).
It came as Australia went without a spinner at the SCG for the first time in 138 years, with Todd Murphy left out and Beau Webster in the XI for Jhye Richardson.
Root and Brook had arrived in Australia as the two top-ranked batters in the world, giving England hope of a first series win Down Under for 15 years.
And while Root at least scored a century in Brisbane, Brook’s miserable month and a half in Australia has summed up an underperforming English side.
But on Sunday the pair delivered.
Brook’s intent was clear from the outset, even if the 26-year-old’s execution was at times questionable.
He jumped down the wicket and left his first ball from Scott Boland, then inside-edged the next down to fine leg to get off the mark.
In the three hours of batting that followed, Brook charged the quicks again at different times, gave himself room and took on the short ball with fielders back.
At one stage former England captain Michael Vaughan, in commentary, accused the right-hander of batting as if he simply got bored as he risked throwing away a good platform.
Nowhere was that better summed up than with Australia employing a short-ball plan with fielders set in the deep, Brook picked up a Cameron Green delivery and half-scooped, half-hooked it over fine leg for six.
On the next delivery, Brook premeditated by backing away and giving himself room, before having to get the bat down to defend a fuller, straighter ball.
“I just didn’t feel like I was getting on top of the ball, so that’s why I tried to start hitting it for six every ball,” a typically-unfazed Brook said afterwards.
“The wind was going that way, and I just felt like everything sped up for me, my hands were coming through quicker when I tried to go aerial.
“If I get a little bit of bat on ball, hopefully it’s going to go for six.”
It was enough to convince Australia to go away from their short-ball plan, which to that point had largely been executed by Green and Mitchell Starc.
In between there were more conventional Brook shots, including a late-cut off Michael Neser that went to the boundary, and a square-drive off Webster to raise his half-century.
Root still scored quickly at the other end, but was far more controlled.
He cover-drove superbly, late-cut well and produced an array of offside strokeplay.
And after finally ending his long wait for a century in Brisbane last last month, a second now looks a chance in Sydney on Monday.
Earlier, Starc, Boland and Neser took wickets in the opening session, as England fell from 0-35 after Ben Duckett’s hot start, to 3-57.
With Starc struggling to get his footing in his delivery stride, Duckett hit the left-armer for two straight boundaries before edging his next ball behind on 27.
Zak Crawley (16) was lbw to Neser trying to play across the line, before Boland had Jacob Bethell caught behind for 10.
But from there it was the Root and Brook show, putting England in position to go after their best batting innings of the summer come Monday.
AAP
