Root and Brook star for England before storm halts Ashes charge against Australia
Fifth Test, day one: England 211-3 before bad light stops play Undefeated duo put on tourists’ best partnership of series As the rain fell on the Sydney Cricket Ground, cutting the opening day of this fifth Ashes Test into exactly half the number of allotted overs, you could practically hear the champagne corks being popped in the Cricket Australia offices. Perhaps the groundsman’s hut also. The huge losses incurred by the two-dayers in Perth and Melbourne put CA and the SCG on red alert as regards a repeat. Unless something absurd were to happen on the second day – England had reached 211 for three when play was eventually abandoned at 5pm on the first – this series finale should last a fair bit longer. Continue reading...
Fifth Test, day one: England 211-3 in 45 overs before bad light stops play
Undefeated duo put together tourists’ best partnership of series
The yin-and-yang of Harry Brook and Joe Root has headlined England’s best batting day of the Ashes, with the pair taking them to 211-3 before a storm hit the SCG on day one of the fifth Test.
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 57 for 3 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.
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