Ashes 2023: Australia Make Steady Start After Root’s Ton Steers England To Surprise First-Day Declaration

Birmingham, June 16: Australia made a steady start in their first innings after Joe Root’s excellent century steered England to a surprise declaration on an intriguing opening day of the first Ashes 2023 Test, here on Friday.

Root’s unbeaten 118 not out, his 30th century in Test cricket, was the stand-out contribution on a surface that offered little for the bowlers, and was the 32-year-old’s fourth hundred against Australia but his first since 2015. His ton drew him level with Matthew Hayden and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the all-time list, just three behind Alastair Cook’s England record of 33.

England opted for a first-evening declaration with the score on 393/8 in their first innings after scoring at a rate of more than five-an-over across the day. And Australia’s openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner will resume on 14/0, 379 behind, having survived a tricky mini-session at the end of Friday’s play.

Earlier, England won the toss and opted to bat first with Zak Crawley setting the tone for an entertaining opening day when he creamed a drive to the boundary off the very first delivery of the series from Pat Cummins.

And Crawley was instrumental in getting England off to a fast start, racking up his 11th score of 50 or more in Test cricket before falling on the cusp of lunch to an excellent Scott Boland delivery for a 73-ball 61.