The Ashes Daily: Root gets his century in Australia on absorbing first day at The Gabba

0:00Nas:Oh, that's that. That is from Crawley. Chris Wokes nails it for four. The Ashes alive and Test cricket alive.

0:08Ath:Ice in his veins. Pat Cummins has led his team to a famous victory. Yeah, go! Down, he gets his goal. It's our ending. England's captain, Ben Stokes.

0:19Nas:While he is there, England have hope. Put the beer away. Put the champagne on ice. 24 years of pain in Australia. Finally they're beaten at home by England. Day one and the first night as well of the Gabba test finished here. As the crowd pile out behind us, Michael Atherton, they would have got their money's worth today.

0:41Ath:Yeah, and we're not getting the abuse that we got in Perth. What a day of cricket that was. I mean, an unbelievable start with Mitchell Stark knocking back, Duckett and Pope for Ducks again, and all those memories of Perth flooding back. But then England's greatest run-getter. absolutely playing the innings of his life, really, because everything is on the line here. If you listen to Ben Stokes, he was asked that question at the toss by Ishii Gui, is this your most important game as England captain? He says it, it is, it was, and never has he needed Joe Root more. It's been a long time coming.

1:16Ath:I mean, that reaction when he got the 100, I thought it was such a fantastic moment of theatre. The whole ground stood to him, Aussies and English people, because, as you know, the Aussies are pretty fair-minded when it comes to excellence. And everybody stood to him. And all that, the decade, really, of disappointment put to one side. And it was a rather funny reaction, wasn't it, when he went like that? It was almost as if to apologise for having taken so long to get the 100.

1:43Nas:Well, you say they're very generous in their praise, but when he landed in this country, the headlines... Average Joe. Average Joe. He was far from average Joe today. Coming at the crease, five for two. the way he played, the tempo of his innings. That partnership at the end there with Joffre Innings was absolutely vital in the course of the game. But let's get it crystal clear that he is one of England's all-time greatest batters and he deserved that moment, that day today. And the England fans deserve to be here to watch that.

2:14Ath:Yeah, it's not as though he's failed here in Australia. You know, he was averaging almost 40. I don't know what the exact numbers are. It's just that he'd not had that defining moment. And wherever he's played in the game, whether it be Asia, England, New Zealand, West Indies, whatever, you know, he's had those defining moments. And the Australians have just not seen the best of him. And as you say, he arrived here, headlines in the Western Australian, average Joe, dud, I think they called him. It'll be interesting to see what they call him tomorrow. He is one of, if not the greatest player we've had.

2:48Ath:He's the greatest run-getter we've had. and he's probably going to end up with more test runs than anybody else. But I think what matters to him more than anything is scoring crucial runs at a critical time. And as you say, he was in for the 16th ball of the innings. At five for two, it could have gone horribly wrong. And as you say, that tempo, because there were moments either side of T where he really had to batten down the hatches. As the dusk fell, the lights came on. I think he only scored seven runs in that hour before T in about 40 balls or something. So it showed his game awareness. He wanted to see off Mitchell Stark.

3:24Ath:And as you say, the runs came at the end there, which have got England into a pretty good position.

3:28Nas:I very rarely get nervous watching present cricket. We've been through that all in our careers. But I did get nervous today when he got to 80, 90. He went into the 90s pretty quickly. He's got 39 Test 100s before today. And none of those I was worried about. but I was worried about this one simply because of its significance, because of the hype, because of the chat, and then he nearly had a Michael Atherton moment. Well, there were two moments, weren't there?

3:54Ath:He pushed forward to Scott Boland, and Carey was up to the stumps, and he almost got the inside edge. And then, as you say, when he had a mix-up there on 97, was he, at that point. And like you, I mean, as you know, the old rule is no cheering in the press box. You're supposed to say quite calm and neutral, but I was willing him on to that 100. And I think most people in the ground were. That's what I said to you at the start. Everybody rose to him, England supporters and Australian supporters. They know they've seen a champion cricketer.

4:27Nas:And thankfully, Matthew Hayden. Well, I've just passed him. I've just seen him in the corridor.

4:33Ath:He high-fived me as I ran past because he knows he's been saved from the most horrendous sight at the MCG. He's been saved.

4:39Nas:What about us? My word, ADOS running around the MCG with no clothes on. Right, that was Joe Root. Let's start at the end of the day and that partnership with Joffre Archer. I felt Australia actually lost a bit of momentum because they were trying to slow things down. They didn't want to bat too long. They were worried about a declaration. If they'd got a wicket, then they'd have to go out and bat under lights with Archer and Atkinson. And they almost lost the momentum a bit.

5:04Ath:You know what it's like as captain in the field. When you start thinking about anything other than taking wickets, things start to go wrong and as you say they were trying to run down the clock a bit because everybody knows it's going to be far more far easier facing not that necessarily facing archer is easy at any time but it'll be easier tomorrow morning than it would be under lights but as you say it rather ran away with them and joe you know started to enjoy himself that reverse ramp for six um some you know fun shots from joffra archer and i think anything over 300 in a day night test is considered to be a competitive score, particularly here in Australia at the moment.

5:43Ath:The old days of where you need 400, 500, 600 batting first have gone a bit, as we've talked about frequently. So I think those were crucial runs at the end there.

5:52Nas:Let's go through the day. Five for two, good bowling, poor batting. I thought Duckett got a good one, a very good one. What did you think of the Pope shot?

6:00Ath:Well, he probably just in the end cramped him a little bit. I first thought it was short and wide, get it cut for four. maybe it was just a bit too close to him Duckett definitely got a good one it moved late you get him at the top of the order but five for two you know I mean it's a week ago but they were bowled out twice within 40 overs in Perth so all those memories would have come flooding back

6:23Nas:and you've spoken this week about Crawley getting a pair getting out twice to Mitchell Stark having 12, 13 days off to come here and face Stark again the king of pink ball bowling and at the top of his game. That showed not only a great ability to bounce back, but mental toughness to be able to do that.

6:42Ath:Definitely. An innings of real character. I mean, he didn't go into his shell, and he can't because he hasn't got the defensive game to just play defensively as we might have done. But he was a little bit more judicious outside off stump. You know, there is a stat knocking around. I hate, you know, clinging onto stats, but something like England left 20 % of balls or something in the first session. So it showed that he was prepared to wait for the right length to drive. I thought he played really nicely, looked in control, excellent partnership with Root, bit of a soft dismissal, short ball, under edge, through to Kerry.

7:19Ath:And then there was another soft dismissal, which we're going to have to talk about.

7:22Nas:And what did you make of the Harry Brook dismissal? I mean, I saw a headline in the paper in the week, in one of the papers, something like Harry Brook has got to learn test match batting and he needs to learn it quickly. The average is 56 in Test Match Cricket. He does. But the dismissals in the last two innings is sort of what that paper was talking about. If you bowl that channel and you don't move your foot across, you'll nail a few, but you do bring that slip cordon into play.

7:49Ath:That's the kind of technical aspect of the dismissal. I would actually just look at the game situation. You know, Smith had held Stark back quite deliberately. He gave him two spells in the morning and then he didn't bowl him for a long time after lunch, after the first break. He's waiting for dusk to come. He's waiting for the lights to take effect. Then he brings him on. That was the first ball that Harry Brook faced from Mitchell Stark. And the difference today between Stark bowling and the rest of Australia's attack was so marked, surely at that point you say to yourself, let's see off Stark, let's get through this period at dusk.

8:26Ath:He's got this one spell here when it's going to be tricky, or at least have a look. I thought it was a bad shot at a bad time. And it exposed Ben Stokes to a twin threat because Stark has got him 10 or 11 times and he's coming in at dusk. So I thought it was a bad shot, a bad time. And then I tell you what I thought was fantastic, those two bits of fielding. I mean, the run out of Stokes by Joss English, who's a wicket keeper, for goodness sake. And he had one stump to aim at. And he was so quick to the ball and got that throw away. and then the catch from Carey to get rid of Atkinson. I thought Australia's attack actually looked ordinary today at times, Mitchell's start notwithstanding.

9:08Ath:But you know what they never do, they never let their standards drop in the field and those were two exceptional pieces of fielding, I thought.

9:15Nas:If we go back to Harrybrook, what do you think he should think and what do you think England should do? Should they just leave him and look at those stats and say, do you know what, he's doing fine? because you don't want him to become in danger of some other previous players that England have had who sort of say, well, that's the way I play. Now, that's fine because that's the way he plays and he's very good. He's one of our finest players, actually, with the stats. Do you just leave him and hope that he'll learn because he does love batting and if he keeps getting out like that, then he will learn quickly or do you have to have a word with him?

9:47Ath:It's a very good question and I don't know Harry Brook well enough as a character. you certainly don't want him to go into his shell the edge that he brings to England's middle order is that he's a destructive game-changing player the opposition would love it if he just dead-batted everything so you don't want that but equally I think you do sit down and say talk us through that situation what were you thinking how did you see the game at that point because I think most people who've played would recognise at that point what Smith and Australia were trying to do. And I thought it was a disappointing dismissal because of that.

10:27Ath:Hopefully he'll learn quickly.

10:29Nas:I agree. The situation, I think more than anything else, we've analysed technique over the years and his front foot. But the situation, and it's something this England side have been guilty of at times, is not reading that situation.

10:41Ath:And Root and Stokes did. Yeah. You know, either side are tee. They really kind of battened down the hatches a bit, as if to say, we know we've got an hour here that where it's going to be at its trickiest, it might get a little bit easier when real darkness falls. And, you know, you could see they were really battling through. So Root today, you know, that was his game, wasn't it? He was fluent at times. He reigned it back at times. And obviously at the end with Joffre at Archery, he began to express himself again.

11:07Nas:Well, I'm our run-out expert. I'm going Stokes at fault with that run-out. There was never a run there. It was a brilliant, as you say, a brilliant bit of fielding, but there was never a run there.

11:16Ath:No, Stokes was at fault. And England had had a warning, actually, because Inglis in the morning had pulled off a brilliant, stunning stop at cover. And I just saw that and thought, I thought he was a wicketkeeper. He's obviously a pretty good fielder. But I did see another stat as well. Something like Joe Root now has been involved in, is it 13 runouts where his mate at the other end has been run out? Which is, I think, boycott-esque and even Hussain-esque. I think he's getting there.

11:44Nas:got something in common with the great Joe Rue. He was actually getting a bit frustrated with Harry Brooke. I thought Harry was away with the fairies a little bit today. Joe a couple of times hit it, and there were easy runs. The ball before Harry Brooke got out, Joe hit it behind square and was like, why aren't we running here? And then they eventually got through, and next ball he nicked it. So he was getting frustrated with Harry Brooke. We've touched on him, but the champion bowler that is Mitchell Stark. Now, we think of pink ball cricket. We think of big hooping in-swingers to the right-hander.

12:12Nas:again apart from the duck it ball I didn't see many hoop or whatever again it was a bit of seam

12:17Ath:and very smart bowling yeah whether he if he'd have had the new ball maybe in the afternoon session which might come to pass at some time maybe the ball will swing but as you say the one to duck it swung a bit didn't really swing um but he's carrying that attack at the moment and you know the looks of golfing class when he's bowling all the threat that he brings and you know I was amazed they left out Nathan Lyon today. I have to say, 562 wickets. A pitch that everybody, I've not been out there, but everybody said it looked much drier and less green than it had yesterday. A pitch that England thought, well, we need a spinner, and they're leaving Lyon out.

12:53Ath:And I thought, you know, there were times when it looked just an OK Australian attack. And then with Mitchell Stark.

13:00Nas:That's why today and this week is so important. Because Cummins will come back. Well, they've played the last game without Cummins and Hazelwood. Lion hardly bowled. They've come here now, no Lion, no Cummins, no Hazelwood. This is your opportunity, England. Do you think they are ahead of the game? England fans leaving here, they are very happy with that partnership at the end. They now leave thinking we are ahead of the game. Are they right?

13:23Ath:Well, it's a competitive score and I think that's what you're looking for. From five for two, if you just said at the end of the day you're going to be, what are they, three, 20, 30 for nine, you're going to take that. there were some disappointing dismissals in there so on one side of it you can say well you know we could have got a few more and you can always say that but I think right now they'd settle for that early 300s and say we're right in the game and we get a few more tomorrow and hopefully put Australia under some pressure

13:55Nas:Great days cricket and England's finest and he is the finest not just with the bat but also in the way he carries himself as a cricketer We are so proud to have Joe Root. And today he got that final monkey off his back, an Ashes 100 in Australia. Everyone, I mean everyone, England fans, Australian fans, love watching him do it today.