Fifth Ashes Test, Sydney Cricket Ground (day one of five)
England 211-3: Brook 78*, Root 72*
Australia: Yet to bat
England won the toss
England’s promising start to the fifth Ashes Test against Australia was curtailed by bad light and rain on the opening day in Sydney.
Joe Root and Harry Brook had taken the tourists to 211-3 when the weather arrived to wipe out the evening session at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The fourth-wicket pair added an unbroken 154, England’s highest partnership of a series in which they are 3-1 down.
After captain Ben Stokes won the toss for the fourth time on the tour, England were in danger of wasting some friendly batting conditions when they slipped to 57-3.
Ben Duckett was caught behind off Mitchell Starc for a breezy 27, Zak Crawley played all around Michael Neser to be lbw for 16 and Jacob Bethell needlessly poked at Scott Boland on 10.
The visitors had lost two wickets for six runs and Root and Brook were both on nought, only for England’s best two batters to combine.
Root was sublime for his 72 not out and has the opportunity for his second hundred in this country.
Brook, on 78, is closing in on his first Ashes hundred in his 10th Test against Australia.
Bar the opening burst, when they claimed three wickets in the first 13 overs, the hosts were wayward with the ball. In omitting off-spinner Todd Murphy, Australia opted against selecting a specialist spinner in a Sydney Test for the first time since 1888.
Bad light stopped play at 14:55 local time, with showers then blowing in and out. Despite dry weather and improved light, play was frustratingly abandoned two hours later with half of the day’s 90 overs left unbowled.
In the aftermath of England’s two-day win in the fourth Test in Melbourne, Australia coach Andrew McDonald drained some of the anticipation from the finale when he said “the Ashes are done” and pointed out these teams are now merely playing for points in the World Test Championship.
The Sydney contest lacks a degree of jeopardy. The Ashes were decided after only three Tests and England have avoided the indignity of a 5-0 clean sweep.
Still, this contest could have a huge impact on the future of the England hierarchy. A defeat would heap more pressure on head coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key. Even victory might not save both men if they cannot agree a way forward.
And a sense of spectacle was provided by a vibrant atmosphere on a sunny Sydney Sunday morning. Pre-play, heroes and first responders of the Bondi Beach terror attack last month were given a guard of honour by both teams in a spine-tingling moment, marked by a standing ovation from a packed crowd.
At the end of one of England’s most disappointing Ashes tours in recent memory, the batting of Root and Brook perhaps only adds to the frustration of earlier poor performances. Too little, too late.
Still, a 3-2 defeat is more respectable than 4-1, and England have started brightly in their bid to further cut the deficit.
For all of the confusion over how the pitch might play – ultimately neither side selected a specialist spinner – there was no doubt England were once again peering over the precipice little more than an hour into the day.
From then on, Root and Brook were outstanding, finding an ideal tempo for Test batting that had eluded England for much of the tour.
Root initially scored more quickly. The Australian attack was too often too wide and England’s number four tucked into cuts, deft glides and cover drives.
Brook has under-performed on this tour, regularly engineering his own downfall. On this occasion, he survived Australian attempts to play on his patience, albeit with a touch of fortune.
His first boundary was a top-edged pull off Boland that went over the slips. After lunch, Starc bowled bouncers with as many as six fielders on the boundary and Brook, on 45, was fortunate when a miscue fell between three men.
But there were other strokes of high class, including a whipped pull off Cameron Green for six. Green hit back to ask questions of Brook, who was beginning to look frustrated when the light drew in.
The SCG is historically the most favourable ground for spinners in Australia – three of the four leading Test wicket-takers at this venue are slow bowlers.
But Sydney has gradually lost its reputation for helping spinners in recent years and this series will end as the Ashes with the fewest wickets ever taken by tweakers.
On Murphy’s omission, stand-in Australia captain Smith said “I hate doing it” but he was “backed into a corner” by the conditions. In selecting all-rounder Beau Webster over seamer Jhye Richardson, the hosts at least have an off-break option.
Australia’s bowlers have been relentless for much of the series, and this was a day when their accuracy finally deserted them. Behind the three frontline seamers, Green and Webster bowled a combined 10 overs that cost 68 runs.
Starc swung the new ball, though when that lost its shine, the surface offered little. There could be the potential for variable bounce later in the match, a benefit to England bowling last.
And, after two two-day Tests in the series, England’s batting and the poor weather in Sydney at least offers the prospect of this match using up much of its allotted time.
