Joe Root finally struck his maiden Test hundred in Australia while Mitchell Starc bagged another six-wicket haul as England and Australia shared the honours on the opening day of the second Test of the Ashes series in the Day/Night encounter at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday.
Root, who survived a difficult chace on the third ball he faced as Steve Smith failed to latch onto what could have been a stunning catch at second slip, was batting on 135 not out along with Jofra Archer, on 32, as England, on electing to bat first, reached 325/9 at stumps after another engrossing day of cricket in the five-Test Ashes series. The 34-year-old right-handed batter Root, who has faced a lot of music on not scoring a hundred Down Under so far, finally removed the anomaly from the pages of his illustrious career.
He reached the 40th Test century of his career, reaching the mark off 181 balls (11x4) as he anchored the England innings with a majestic batting effort, rescuing the visitors from a precarious 5/2 in the morning with both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope getting out for zeroes, falling to Starc, Australia's best bowler in the series so far.
