The Ashes: Root scores first hundred in Australia.

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Roots on 98. Boland from the Far end comes running into him and he bowls to Root it turns out into the leg side. This should be it. This should go at least for four. It has gone for four and Joe Root has done it. In his 30th innings in Australia.

He'S managed it. He scored his first hundred and what a fight it's been. What a battle.

At the close of this first day of this second Ashes Test match. England 325 for 9 and the 30th attempt in Australia. Joe Root has made his first ever 100 to guide England to a position from which they've got something to defend when they come out to bowl on the second day. Route 135 not out at the close of play. Joffre Archer 32 not out. They added 61 for the last wicket in 44 balls after England of 5 for 2, then the recovery. Zach Crawley making 76 after his pair at Perth. Harry Brook out for 31, playing well and had a big drive to a wide delivery from Mitchell Stark. Stokes run out for 19 brilliantly by Inglis. Jack's making 19. There was a recovery then and England lost. Wickets. Atkinson out for four and cast for naught. We thought England were going to be bowled out or declared they played some shot. It came off and so England up to 325 for nine by the close of play. Jonathan Agnew is with me. Glenn McGrath is with me. Well, Jonathan, pick the bones out of that. What sort of day was that?

Another roller coaster, wasn't it? A roller coaster. You mentioned that Joe Roots been there most of the day actually faced a 16th ball, didn't he? 5 for 2. He couldn't help just thinking, oh, here we go again on the back of Perth. And it just felt like it was going to be another, another shambles. But five to two, 122 for two. Excellent stand there. I think the, the day in a way is that England got into positions again and you have to say that once again it's been poor shot selection. That's, that's cost them those good positions. Zack Crawley won't be pleased with his shot. Having got to 76. Caught behind pulling ner who's. I didn't think was. Was really up to much today, to be honest. And I think we ought to say this is a, this is not a top notch Australian attack. It really isn't. I mean this is very much second division apart from Mitchell Stark of course. So therefore, surely you treat Stark with a bit of caution, don't you? But Harry Brook didn't. Again, a good recovery. 76 was three. The first ball he faced of him of a new spell. It was an appalling shot. I'm sorry. And you wonder, you know, we talked a lot about what England could learn from Perth and the lessons learned. Well, you look at that shot and you think, I'm afraid Harry Brooks learned nothing. And we, we said, we said the same thing at Perth about, about the way that he plays. I'm sorry but the last three test matches he has played really poor shots. You, you have to say that he was largely responsible along with root for England losing the last test match they played against India at the oval.

They were set.

They should just knock those runs off and won the game. They didn't. Perth awful shot in the second innings. And then today here 31, he's got so much talent and I think the reason for my frustration, I think most people's frustration is unless he does knuckle down and focus on the broader aspect of the game, he's not going to fulfill his incredible talent. And that would be a real shame because he is immensely talented. He's got an incredible eye. His statistics are superb. A lot. Well, some of which based on those innings in Pakistan. But you know, you, he's not going to, he's not going to fulfill it if he bats like this. He's just not. He's kind of. He's. He has to learn to play for a situation and just to use some intelligence and just play, play sensibly. It's very, very frustrating. He does. He got the hard work done today and threw it away just at a time that England could not afford to lose a wicket. The light was closing in, the lights were on. That is a time, surely, as you saw from Stokes and route. You knuckle down, you work hard. It's not easy. And Stokes tried really hard. I mean, the run out. Well, people do get run out. He just misjudged that. It was. It was his fault. He pushed and ran and Root wasn't going anywhere. Brilliant piece of fielding from Inglis. Brilliant catch from Carey later on as well, by the way. But then Jacks before him had also played so well and so calmly and supported Root. And then suddenly Starks on brainstorm time, swishing outside the off stump. He missed the first one, Nick the second. So it, for me, it's that England again have shown a lot of promise, a lot of. A lot of opportunity they've got to those positions, but they haven't quite made the most of it. I thought 350, 360 was a par score. They might still get it, but they're doing it the hard way.

And meanwhile, at the other end, watching this was Joe Ria, who's just done it at last.

Head and shoulders above the rest, isn't he? Just the way that he plays. And going back to Brooke briefly, he must watch Root. He must watch Root. And to see how Joe Root plays. He hasn't got a bat like Joe Root, but the same mental approach that Joe Root has, sometimes you've got to work hard, you've got to really fight. Even someone of roots talent, 40, test hundreds. And, you know, all the pressure on him today. There's been so much written about him and the Aussies have given him a hard time. You know, he's not a great player. All that stuff. We know all this Average Joe. Yeah, all. All those things. And he. What I love was that little shrug at the end there. He's looked at the players and just shrugged his shoulders. What's all the fuss about, boys? You know, I knew I was going to get it. Well, there was no guarantee he's going to get it, but, you know, the. The century in Australia aside, that was a superb hundred. With everything else that was going on around it and the conditions and all of that, that was just a superb Hundred. The fact it was his first in Australia is kind of coincidental, really.

What did he do so well?

Knuckled down, fought hard, risk free, risk averse, until he played some shots. At the end, he left a lot alone.

None of those booming drives that he got out to. In Perth, for instance, he was much more careful with his shot selection and to come in as early as he did and the pressure really on. You know, you can see him talk to Zach Crawley. You see him, you know, to talk to, well, the others who came in around him. You know, he's there, he's in control. He loves batting. He's at home when he's batting and he was just. That was. That was a really masterful innings today.

Glenn, from an Australian bowler's perspective, how would you characterize England's batting and shot making today? Jonathan talked about, you know, Harry Brook, for example. Zach Crawley played actually very well and then, you know, didn't go on when you felt he could have done. Obviously there's Joe, let's talk about, you know, some of the shot making to start with, then we'll talk about Root.

Yeah.

It was an interesting start to the day. England won the toss, selected to to bat and two early wickets. We thought, oh, here we go again. Similar to Perth, but the way Crawley and. And Root batted, yeah, they had a little. There was a little bit of luck, element of luck there, but you need that when you're going to bet well. But yeah, you know, listening to Mitchell Stark at the end was interesting. You know, the new pink ball is tough. In normal condition under lights, it's incredibly tough. But he said that ball went soft and up at Brisbane here, that happens a lot when you've got, when you're bowling. He said it's. It is tough to force it because it's not coming on as well. There's a little bit of tennis ball. He bounce out there and the ball's not doing a great deal. We saw it just move a little.

Bit in the air.

Not a huge amount of seat movement once that ball got older, so. And yeah, so it was. It can be tough. Mitchell Stark just showed how important he is to this team, so. But it's a type of wicket. You've got to give yourself a chance. Get in, get used to the pace. Tennis ball bounce, as I said, get used to that. That's a little different. Tomorrow will quicken up. It'll. It'll come on quicker. So we'll see that.

Good for the bowlers or good for the batters?

Well, it Depends, you know, if it's. If once that ball gets older, but it's coming on okay. But it's, it's soft and it's not doing a great deal. Well, we'll wait and see. It's, it's, it's hard to judge what this pitch is going to be like. They only left 3 mils of grass on there. So I think the way Joe Root batted, he summed up the situation. And yeah, apart from an early edge which didn't carry, you know, I know Steve Smith got his hand to. But that would have been an unbelievable catch. But after that, he looked solid. He didn't look under pressure, he looked like he had time. There was a session where they went hard bowling short when he was out there with Harry Brook and they just, even Joe Root looked like, didn't want to leave his shot alone. They were, they were playing every, every short ball, pulling, hooking. But, you know, he looked, he looked good. So I think there's not a lot of fear in this pitch. You know, Mitchell Stark, you look at the wickets he's got just pushing him across and, and chasing wide ones. So, yeah, I'll be interested to see how England bowl on this pitch and just see exactly how it is and see if they picked up any little things. But I, yeah, Australians, the way Brooke got out the way who was it Jax got out and a few other wickets, you probably wouldn't see Australia chasing those wide ones as much. But, you know, I guess you won't know until till tomorrow.

So Mitchell Start takes 6 for 71. Was it a 6 for 71 performance? I mean, the figures are there. Yeah, but were a few of those. I mean, he throws it wide, doesn't he? Said, go on, have a go at that. And then fall into trap. Was it, Was it that. Was it a masterful bowling performance or just canny?

Oh, it's quality. You know, he's, he's bowling with confidence and when bowlers of his caliber bow with confidence, they, they take wickets and, you know, he's just pushing him across. England batsman. Yeah, bowling that wobble seam.

He's got 23 wickets in his last five innings.

But, you know, you know, England don't want to leave them alone and he.

Knows that as well.

So it's. You still got to get them out there just in that full. Just that area and just. Yeah, and wickets will come some day it's your day, others it won't. But yeah, yeah, you've got to adapt and bowl to your bowling plans to every Batsman, they'll have bowling plans to these batsmen, you know, and one of it is pushing wide because they don't want to let the ball go.

What about that sting in the tail at the end? It was interesting that last. I was actually fascinating cricket, wasn't. It was fascinating throughout for all sorts of reasons. You know that the subplots. Zach Crawley coming into the match on a pair. Mitchell, start the king of the pink ball, Joe Root. Can he get his hundred in Australia? And the highs of that brilliant catch by Carey, the wonderful run out from English. But that last hour where England were frittering wickets away, they were nine down, 264 for nine.

Yeah.

With about 45 minutes left. And you think, well, when we go back to Edgbuston in the last Ashes where England declared about 290 at 390 rather for 8 with rope out there on 100 and scoring freely, what did you think? Did you think they should have declared?

I think.

I think most people thought that they. Well, what happened was obviously they went out there to play the shot, so they got out with England winning bowling. And so that would have. That would have saved that. That decision to have to be made. But I, I think out the back here talking, everyone I spoke to, Australians and English like, what's going on? He should be. He should be declaring. This is all rather unusual because Stokes is actually a very proactive captain too, isn't he? Does he. He doesn't like a sort of a stagnant period, so.

But he didn't just explain, just explain why you would declare with route over 100.

Well, because you have the chance maybe of getting one or two Australians out in the lights. That's the point. With the new ball, and particularly if it is Travis Head, for instance, they got to a stage where probably they'd have sent in a low order batsman anyway, a night watchman. But, you know, it was really refreshing cricket that actually, to see Joe Root and everyone back and, and to give him the license to. To have a go with Archer at the other end. Arch plays on excellent shots as well. He's. Don't mug with the bat. He's really sort of underperformed really, at test cricket with the bat, he's a better player than we've seen a lot of him. But he did, he did play well today and, and sometimes, you know, like the Australians, when you're wasting a bit of time, when you've got your mind on something else. But we don't want to bat here, so we're Going to slow it down. We're going to wait. You know, actually, you can, you can, you can get nipped. You know, you, you, you, you just lose that positive drive of, of your play. You, you, you can get stung a bit. And that's what happened there. They, they suddenly didn't bowl terribly well. Everyone out on the boundary doesn't, doesn't help. And you have to say fair play. I think that's worked. Those, those ex, those, those, those runs, those 61 runs. I think you'd take that even, even above getting one wicket tonight.

Gl.

England got more runs than what Australia would have wanted to, but as Mitchell Stark said, you're bowling with a ball that's doing nothing. It's soft, it's not swinging. It's the best conditions to bet in. So I'm not surprised they got some runs. I, I was a little bit disappointed with. They didn't bowl good bounces, the Australian. They didn't mix up the pace. But I would have still been tempted to declare with, you know, 40 minutes to go, you know, 40 minutes at them out there, you're probably sitting. What was it? 260?

Yeah, 260.

If they come in tonight, you know, there was potential for Australia to be 4 down tonight. If they're down 4 for 20 tonight with defending 260, what would you prefer? 260 on the board, 4 for 20 or 9 for 325.

You want 4 for 20, wouldn't you? But you're not guaranteed it.

You're not guaranteed it, but let me tell you, bowling under lights with the new pink ball.

Is normally as tough as it's ever going to get. That's why you want to have that, to bowl with the new ball under lights. But it's only 3mm of grass out there. That's the difference. So if they left, normal would have done more. You're not guaranteed it, but let me tell you, it's a lot easier to pick up four wickets in half an hour bowling on this wicket in these conditions than first thing in the morning. So. Yeah, well, we'll wait and see. There's a lot of time left in this game. Maybe we'll get to see new balls, ball under lights in the next two or three days and just see what difference it would have made.

The timing been perfect. England would have done that, smash 61, come running off and bowl three overs or four overs or something. That would have been the perfect timing, wouldn't it, with that momentum.

Yeah.

Whereas tomorrow, probably you imagine that Arch Will get knocked over, you know, fairly early on as play resumes and, you know, then you go out and start from fresh, don't you? But you do take that momentum with you sometimes. We. You can't. You can't. You can't have everything.

I think that England are still batting tonight. That's a little tick that they got through that. Australia would have preferred to have them bowled out. Okay, focus. We know when we're batting in the morning and. And what have you. But the fact that England got. Got through that last period, they're nine down, they're still batting. I think that's a, That's a win on top of the score and everything.

Else with the possibility as well of, of some more runs tomorrow. If Archer can that support Joe Root.

What. What do Australia do? They all out on the, on the fence again?

Well, they've got six overs to get through of an old ball that's doing nothing and soft.

So.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

Yeah, it is. Zach Crawley's mum's about to get a horrible shock because he's. He's about to be on camera back home, I think, because you see his haircut.

Well, that haircut seemed to work for him today.

Now, he played some beautiful shots.

Yes, he did. I mean, a man under pressure as well. When you think, you know, you come in off a pair, you know, you must, however much you stay off social media and stay away from newspapers, all that sort of thing, you. You must know the chatter out there, you know, when you, when you've got.

A pair in your first, you know yourself, don't you? I mean, you're sitting on. On a pair and you know, he's known for 12 days he's gonna be facing Mitchell Stark again, the first over with a pink ball. And he's. He's just got him out twice. He's bagged a pair. I mean, that's. Yeah.

Is it pressure? They play with no pressure. I think Baz doesn't want to their players to have any pressure.

Yeah, but he's also really.

He's also.

He's also human.

Exactly.

You've got to feel it, I think.

To come out and play out that today is a good effort, I must say. He played a beautiful cover drive early on off Mitchell Stark and that, that, that got him away, that got him.

Going and, and there was that little, you know, you wonder if Steve Smith.

Had reviewed that well, he'd definitely be given up. Yeah.

So where, where things are at. So you've got to chance Your arm. And, you know, I, I like Zach Crowley. I like his attitude. And, you know, I've met him a few times. He's trained with my old trainer, but. And when he's going well, he's just such a good looking batsman to watch. He's tall, he's just the way he strokes through the ball. So, yeah, I'm glad he did well today.

Yeah. On 15, he. Well, it looks as if he edged one through Australia. Half appealed, it wasn't really concerted. And then they could have reviewed it. They didn't. And then when we saw the. The Drs, there was just a little scratch on it which suggests that he would have been out for 15 in England, would have been 21 for three. Route as well was was dropped. Difficult chance. Low down by Smith diving in front of Labashane at first, Smith at first slip. It would have been a brilliant catch if he got it. Route picked up four and, well, the rest, they say, is history. Now, Joe Root isn't doing interviews tonight. We'll hear from him tomorrow. But we can get some reaction from the England camp because Zach Crawley has been speaking to Henry Moran.

Really good day. I mean, unbelievable day for Joe. He's had that coming for a long time. He deserves it. I mean, probably the best player I've ever played with or against. And, yeah, he's made us have a good day as a team there. So we're happy.

We'll get onto your innings shortly. But this is something that has been discussed, not just this tour, but several tours before Joe Root not quite getting that hundred in Australia. It's felt a big thing.

Yeah, I mean, it hasn't been a big thing for him, to be honest. There seems to be outside noise about that. You know, he's just. He's actually, I came in the last tour here and he played really well just on some green wickets. Got a couple of 80s and, you know, sometimes you just don't get the rub of the green. And he didn't even need the rub of the green today. He just played a flawless knock. And when I watched it, it was hard to believe that he hadn't got 100 here. You know, it's such a great knock and yeah, he made it look effortless. So, yeah, he deserves it. They work so hard in this game and yeah, he's a brilliant player.

What does that mean to the team, to have that sort of moment at the start of a difficult start to a tour, but seeing something that really can bring a side together like that?

Yeah, we were so excited up there. Everyone was smiling. We were nervous for him. I was nervous for him about 20 runs out. Everyone was talking about it like, what is he going to do with the celebration and stuff? And no, we were so just chuffed to bits for him. So. Yeah, no, absolutely. And he's gonna, you know, he deserves all the credit he gets from all the lads and from everyone.

How are you feeling when those two wickets fell at the other end early on in the day today to Mitchell Stark?

It feels.

Felt like a tough moment for England.

That, yeah, it was obviously a great start by them. Couple of, you know, really good ball and a bit unlucky for Popey, so. But, you know, that was me last week, so I know how it feels. So, you know, it's just the nature of the bit of the beast at the top of the order and I knew it was just going to get a bit easier if me and Joe could bat for 10 overs or so. And it proves to get a little bit easier, so we managed to put some runs.

Has it felt a long 11 days for you personally coming into this game and how significant for you is it to get those runs today?

Yeah, it did feel long. I think it would have felt long if I'd have got loads of runs in person. It was a big old gap. But, yeah, I was really pleased with how I played. Obviously wanted more. I was gutted when I got out and felt like the pitch was just getting really flat actually when I got out. So obviously very, very disappointed. But standing here now, I'm happy with the 76 and I feel like we're in a good position.

That partnership at the end there, there was many saying that England should declare, get half an hour with the, with the pink ball under the lights. What was the chat in the dressing room?

The chat was to go hard and if you got out then we can have half an hour of them and if you, if you got some runs, then they could be crucial runs. And they proved to do the latter. They got some crucial runs. 50 run partnership there. 10th Wick is a phenomenal effort and puts us in a good position tomorrow, I think.

Do you think it's England's day on account of that partnership?

I do. I mean, I'm not sure what the Aussies would say, but I think sitting here as an England player, I think it's our day. Yeah.

The pink ball has had a lot of criticism. There's been a lot of talk. How was it out there?

It's interesting. It definitely plays differently from the Red Bull. Like if it hits the shiny side, it kind of skids on and if it hits the seam, it kind of stops in the wicket. So it's different. You just got to adapt and play and it's definitely a different sort of cricket. I mean, I didn't bat under lights today, but they say it's harder to battle under lights, so we'll have to see. Hopefully that's the case when we start bowling tomorrow.

And just finally, is the buzz cut the secret?

I wouldn't say that. I mean, half the team have got a buzz cut now it's so hot here in Brisbane. So no, but I like it. They're my stay.

Well played today, Zach.

Thanks a lot.

Zach Crawley talking to Henry Moran. So England's day according to Zach Crawley. We'll find out tomorrow. Just see Australia bat and give some context. That England score of 325 for 9. Of course they have power to add because Joe Root is still there on 135 and Joff Rach is there on 32. I just want to chat to Glenn about the composition, the Australia team. Nathan Lyon left out of this match, five seamers. So going with the England tactic from Perth. What did you think about that?

Yeah, I was a little bit surprised, to be honest. I thought Nathan Lyon, he does have a pretty good record of bowling with a pink ball, but, yeah, I'm not sure what they were. What they were thinking. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that it gets dark quite early. He can sit, you know, compared to, say, Adelaide at this time of the year because of that time difference and no daylight savings. So they thought majority, majority of the play will be played in twilight or dark where it probably assists the fast bowler. So whether that was part of their thinking. I know Nathan Lyon got hit in Perth and that's why he didn't bowl much in the second wasn't really required, but he got hit in the nets on the ankle. So they're saying none of that played a part. So I dare say they thought the ball might do a little bit more, especially under lights. So, yeah, it was a little bit. A little bit surprised with the bowling attack we went in with.

It feels Jonathan from, you know, this positioning, go back a few months. If you said that the second Test match for Australia, there would be no Cummins, there'd be no Hazelwood, there'd be no lion and Weatherald would be in the Australian team and English, NISA and Doggett, you thought, okay, we can live with that.

Absolutely. Which is why, again, the first Test performance was so, so disappointing because England should have won that first Test match and they have got these injury problems. We've talked about their pace attack creaking and being elderly and so on. They made the decision not to play Nathan Lyon in this match. I mean I have to say I think that that that bowling attack of Australia's is the poorest I've seen since, since 10 11. I mean it's, it's pretty bog standard, trundly fast medium for which half the day was instructed to bowl bouncers which actually is not their natural game at all. Let me take Mitchell Stark out of that. He's brilliant, he's outstanding world class bowler. But the rest of it I thought was really second division and, and, and it just looked it today and I was, you know, Smith's tactic to get them running in bowling bounces I thought was a bit unkind on them really because that's not what they're used to doing. I mean dogga is a pitch it up, swing it the ball away sort of bowler. And he's running in bowling half trackers. He's gone for what, five and a half and over.

And what NISA as well got what? He's gone for three. Three.

Three and over, one for 43. Boland, I mean he had a bit of tap there at the end. 19 overs, one maiden, one for 87. I mean without Mitch Stark.

Yeah, exactly. And, and, and you could say that was the case in Perth I thought too I, he was head and shoulders above, above the rest there. And this is why the frustration was for Perth because Australia is vulnerable. It, it, it is vulnerable and we know, we know that's the case, we know their batting is vulnerable. But it's interesting that looking up on the screen at the moment, this game, this day has just finished what's showing on the telly here. We've got Travis Head smashing England around at Perth already up on the television screens as if it's sort of come on lads, to the Australian players below. I mean it's quite bizarre but that's kind of what it's, what it's like over this part.

I don't know, I think they've been playing on a loop ever since I, I went into my hotel room in Canberra and turned on the television. The first thing I saw was, was Head reaching his hundred.

So it just shows what the England players have had to put up with the last 12 days. They've been photographed in all sorts of ways. There's drones flying over the golf Courses, there's, there's paparazzi outside their hotel doors. They're snapped on scooters without helmets on. I mean it's been pretty, pretty relentless. They were five for two and, and they've, they've fought through pretty well. They're 325 for nine. That's, that's not a bad score.

I don't think toughers is here. What did you make of Australia's decision to leave out a spinner?

Well, interesting. Just listening to John there, you know, saying that, you know, the rest of it was second division. What you get with Nathan Line is not second division. Don't matter what color it is, what pitch it is, you know, he can hold up and end, he can get wickets. I can guarantee you that last pair wouldn't have got 50 if Nathan Lyon was there as the spin bowler. So yeah, they might be ruined that decision a bit. Gives you control, gets your wickets when the other guys, as you say, apart from Mitchell Star, were just looking a little bit frayed, weren't they? So, yeah, there is still room for a spin bowler. We're always the first to go, aren't we? You know, get rid of the spinner.

But England are not playing their front line spinner either. Either.

But I think, I think the reason for that is, I think that they both had play a, they both had a bowl at Lilac Hill, didn't they? And you know, I don't know whether there was too much or a difference between, you know, and it gives you so much.

But Jackson show for a while there what he can do with the bat, didn't he? He played very calmly. He was playing really beautifully for route and then had a brainstorm and start came on again.

I know a few soft wickets there, but I mean this initial start, well, bold.

How did you see the sort of final analysis? Whose day did you think it is?

Well, I know it's an awkward one, isn't it? You know, Australia could go out and blaze it around and play really well. Smith head and knees. I think England will be happy with that. You know, from the position they were when we were all hiding under the desk here, you know, five for two, you know, they've dug themselves out of a bit of a hole. They showed a huge amount of character. One thing we know about this side is that they have that character and they have the tools in the toolbox to do that. And they, and they perform today and got themselves out of a bit of a hole. So I'm just giving it to England just By nose.

But it could have been better. Some of the stroke making, shot making.

I agree, I agree. You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's very skillful, very good bowling from Mitchell style, but it's just kind of like, you know, run it across and we'll go and have a little fish for it, you know, but take nothing away, you know, great piece of bowling, but I think, I think a few of the guys will be looking at the highlights reel with their, with their sort of head in their hands, just thinking, oh, why did I chase that one?

Yeah.

Okay. Well, one person who was very happy for them to chase them was Alex Carey, the wicket keeper who snaffled a few, actually caught one.

He kept brilliant.

He kept brilliantly. And he caught a brilliant catch as well to get rid of Gus Atkinson running back towards a fine leg. So it's time to hear from Alex Carey. He's been speaking to Corbyn Middlemass and the ABC commentary team.

A bit up and down, really. Yeah. Obviously started really well with the ball and we saw a pretty good partnership form with, with Crawley and Root and then got back in the game after lunch, after tea, whatever we call these sessions. And then obviously, you know, that late partnership was pretty crucial for them, I think.

Could have been worse, could have been better. But, yeah, I thought Joe played outstanding innings. I think we all know probably what that meant to him on Australian soil. But, yeah, like I said, probably could have been better, could have been worse.

Who took the honours on day one?

I think it's a pretty good pitch. Would have been nice to bowl them out there late. Yeah, I think anytime you're still batting at the end of day one these days, it's pretty rare. So, yeah, England played well. Look, we're really confident we're in the game. We've got a good opportunity when our time comes to bat. I thought there probably wasn't a lot of sideways movement, a little bit of shape in the air, but, yeah, we also saw runs in that last session. We saw runs in the first session. We saw wickets throughout. So hard to say, Kez, a bit of inconsistency in the surface because noticed.

A few deliveries fell short of you on occasions.

Yeah, I think it's a pretty good pitch. Maybe put it down to the pink ball. I think we saw a lot of times the boys trying to change it. They were saying you could almost put it out of. Out of, out of shape with your hand. Like, it just felt soft at times. So. But yeah, look, it produced runs. It Produced wickets. So look, I think the wicket's pretty good. I think the ball was performed probably the way we thought it was going to. It had him nine for 260. It was a good position. Obviously a late little cameo from Joffre. Yeah, it would have been nice to get him out early.

Cares that catch running back over your shoulder. Talk us through what was going through your mind when that ball went up in the air.

Oh yeah, I've had a, you know, football day so I've had players trying to tag me. Manus was one of them today and just out bodied him late. So he talks a big game in rugby but yeah, AFL came through there I reckon.

GWS giants, eh? It was an incredible catch. I mean while I was on air with Jaxie at the time and we were obviously at the far end of the ground, I thought geez is he hung on to that and almost thought the crowd had the same reaction where you knew you taking it so did.

So did Mar on his face. He almost kissed me. I think he did kiss me there. But.

Yeah, one of those ones.

Yeah you just go hard early and, and, and put in the dive. But yeah we had a, a pretty good day. Would have been nice to wrap it up there.

Like did you miss the spinner at any stages throughout the day?

I don't think so, no. I think we chipped away and like I said like the position we, we got ourselves in, we stayed in. I think it was 4 for 200 at one stage, then 9 for 260 and then a late little burst there. So no, I thought look, it's always going to be tough to leave out a, a player like Nathan Lyon. What I have learned in the last few years, these selectors have, have done an amazing job in making the big calls, making the right calls a lot of the time and we've had a lot of success throughout the past few years with them in charge. So yeah, I'm looking forward to, to getting back out there tomorrow, hopefully wrap up that first wicket and, and get batting.

And your fellow wicket keeping mate Josh English goes okay bare handed as well.

Oh and again that's probably that changed a little bit of a course of the day as well.

We all know what runouts could do. We got a couple of back to back. So yeah, that was a nice, that was one of the best runouts I've seen actually. It was, that was pretty special.

It really was. It was a brilliant piece of work from English to run out Ben Stokes and it started England's collapse. But they did recover towards the end. So that's Alex Carey talking to the ABC commentary team. Now, last but not least, we're going to hear from Andy Zaltzman because, well, we saw a remarkable achievement from, well, a notable achievement from Joe Root today. But what else did you spot?

Well, let's start with Root as his long awaited first hundred in Australia and his 16th Test and 30th innings here is 40th in all. That puts him fourth on the all time list. I've just lost my stat. I'm pretty sure that's fourth.

He's now converted 23 of his last 4050 plus scores over the last five years into centuries, having converted 17 of his first 66. So over half since then. He scored as many hundreds in the last five years as Kevin Peterson, Verenda Sehwag, Justin Langer and Javid Miyanda did in their entire careers. So puts in context quite how extraordinarily consistent he's been in that time. That sort of covers the end of his captaincy and the the basball ERA is 135not out. Four more runs will be England's highest individual score in the first innings of a Gabba. Currently Ian Botham's 138 in 1986-87. This is only England's eighth century in Tests at the Gabba. Three of them were scored in the 517 for one innings in 2010. 11. Cook, Strauss and Trott. England only had four other hundreds in 21 previous Gabba Tests before Roots today the 10th wicket stand with Joffre Archer, England's highest in Australia since 1982. 83 when Pringle and Cowans put on 66 at the Gabba run. England's third highest tenth wicket stand in Australia since 1903. 4. And it made up for those ducks. We saw four more ducks by England. Nine ducks already in the series. That's the second most England have ever had. In the first two tests of an Ashes series. Six of the top seven have scored ducks already in the series so far. Zach Crawley out for 76 for the fourth time in his career, setting a new record for most times out for 76 by one player. And the other dominant player of the day, Mitchell Stark, Superb once again, 6 for 71 from 19 overs. The rest of Australia's bowling attack 2 for 249 from 55. Stark in the series 16 for 184 at an average of 11.5. And the rest of Australia's bowlers collectively 12 wickets average just under 38 per wicket. And Stark in the process became the highest wicket taking left arm pace bowler in Test history, overtaking Wasim Akram. In the course of this series, he's already moved up from joint 23rd to 11th in the highest wicket takers in England v Australia Test cricket and very rare Australian side we've seen today. It's the first time Nathan Lyon has missed a home test for 70 matches at home. And it's the first time they've only had one of Lyons, Stark, Hazelwood and Cummins in a team since 2014. So Stark once again, as he often has when some of the others have been missing, stepped up superbly. Stokes actually on roots innings. It was a an innings that showed all of his skills. It had three phases essentially. Classic Routian, beginning 61 off 94, then over the dusk period and with wickets falling at the other end, really restrained. 27 off the next 77 and then either side of his 145 off the last 31 balls that he faced in the day. So three phases of route showing quite what an adaptable player he is. And just finally, Ben Stokes is run out. The first time England's captain has been run out in an Ashes Test since Tony Gregg in 1975, just over 50 years ago. And the first time an England captain's been run out on Australia since 1962. 63.

I think that's my favourite stat of the day. It's a bit niche, but it's my favourite stat of the day. Yeah, it's a rare occasion. Yeah. There we go. Okay, Zoltz, thanks very much indeed. Now you can watch highlights on the BBC Sport website and app now with our full highlights show available on the BBC iPlayer every day from 5pm look out for the TMS Ashes debrief with Alex Hartley, also on Iplayer with guests today, Michael Vaughan and Glenn McGrath. BBC Sounds is where you'll find all our podcasts and plenty more content. Just search Ashes and we're back on air from 3:45am Friday. For the second day, you're listening to.

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