Key events
67th over: England 294-5 ( Root 113, Smith 34) Green lollops in. He bounces Root, who turns his body into a C and pulls him stylishly for a single.
66th over: England 291-5 ( Root 110, Smith 34) A reassuring Root boundary, off his pads, between midwicket and mid off.
65th over: England 286-5 ( Root 105, Smith 34) Smith might be a bit all over the place, but he’s gathering handy runs. He tonks Green into the covers for two, then carves him inelegantly over the slips for four more
64th over: England 280-5 ( Root 105, Smith 28) Root and Smith warily see through a Neser over. Smith is presently off the pitch, having a bottle of water in the dugout.
Hello Colum Fordham!
“It felt too good to be true to have our best batters set and close to centuries at the SCG. And by goodness, it was. As you said in your preamble, Brook was a bit harum scarum. I suppose the question you might out to him is why didn’t you play with a tad more caution to start with, get the century and maybe 130 odd….And then go beserk. But then it wouldn’t be Harry Brook.
But we still have Root. And hope.
“On the subject of nostalgia, I never got to play with Root but did play against Mike Brearley in an Old Johnians match at Cambridge many moons ago. And I managed to get him out caught off my slightly erratic off-spin.
“It would be lovely if we managed to win this test and make it a relatively palatable 2-3 defeat. But I think both teams will come to rue not having a frontline spinner on this pitch. Bashir may be out of sorts but the only way to restore his confidence is to give him game time. And it would have been nice to see the bespectacled Todd Murphy bowl his excellent off-spin in Lyon’s forced absence.
Enough musings. May the second day unfold.”
62nd over: England 279-5 ( Root 105, Smith 27) Jamie Smith is a lucky, lucky boy. He plays a dreadful chip to cover, but is saved by the overstepping of Green’s big boot. Very next ball, he carves the ball between Carey and Webster at first slip. Neither appear to see it. The fifty partnership rolls through in 73 balls.
62nd over: England 273-5 ( Root 105, Smith 22) Neser bustles in, like a meticulous village postman. A maiden.
“If England win here,” writes Peter Roy. “Root’s 2/20 win ratio will be identical to Tendulkar’s.”
61st over: England 274-5 ( Root 105, Smith 22) Green resumes. Another smart over. Smith has a leaden-footed huge swing… and misses.
Root has moved to third in the Test hundred table – drawing level with Ricky Ponting with 41 Test hundreds.
A hundred for Joe Root!
59th over: England 272-5 ( Root 104, Smith 22) An off drive off Neser brings the magic number, his 41st Test century, and his second of the series. Magic. He takes off his helmet and smiles that familiar smile. He gets a huge hug from Jamie Smith, and a standing ovation from this gorgeous stadium A cover drive brings three, and then the shot of morning, a straight drive from Jamie Smith, down the ground and over the rope.
58th over: England 263-5 ( Root 99, Smith 18) A cracking over from Cameron Green, a double-triple bluff with three men out, there was no bouncer for Smith, who continues to look like seasick man trying to march out his nausea. A single takes Root to 99.
Stephen Cottrell, I feel I need to fast forward this email to the top of the pile.
“I’m a Lancs fan living in Surrey.
”I’ve been going to Surrey for 6-7 year. I saw Smith’s first pro ton (batting with Tim David) in the 50 over cop in 2021. In 2023 I was thrilled to see he’d beefed up and could add power to his natural touch game.
”It’s so frustrating to see him just want to hit everything for 6 against good bowlers. Let him do his own thing and he’ll score 6000 runs for England.”
57th over: England 261-5 ( Root 98, Smith 17) Neser replaces Boland for his first over of the day. Root starts the over by top-edging a cut over the slips, and is frustrated by good fielding and a ball that keeps low. This pitch is starting to be occasionally capricious.
57th over: England 257-5 ( Root 94, Smith 17) Another over for Starc, who must be due a rest. Smith barrels him over mid on for four. In he pounds again, more short stuff. History would say Starc will win this battle. Meanwhile, Root eases into the nineties.
56th over: England 235-5 ( Root 89, Smith 11) Smith whips Boland through midwicket for four, with wristy flair, though airily. Boland nearly draws an edge next ball. A stand full of Richie Benaud enthusiasts ooh and aah.
55th over: England 235-5 ( Root 88, Smith 7) Smith whisks Starc for six into the crowd over deep backward square. Tries to pull another short one and gets pinged in the grill.
”Grey, drizzly day in Boise, Idaho, matching my mood watching Brook’s dismissal,” writes Tony McKnight. “When the teams came off yesterday afternoon, there had to be the sneaking suspicion that restarting this morning would be difficult. England were clearly on top (despite more ‘no consequences’ batting from the top three), the bowlers were tiring, perhaps for the first time in the series two batters were truly “in.” Had they decided last night to be expansive it would have been well within Test cricket to do so. So the decision to abandon play clearly favored Australia.
“This morning England had to restart with measured authority – which is why Brook’s dismissal today is so disappointing. I guess my point is, that the current regime still doesn’t seem to understand that putting a high price on your wicket isn’t just about your average, or our style of play, it’s about playing for the next batter in. Brooks’ little prod has opened up an end for Australia to attack early in the day and has opened up the game. That’s the consequence.”
54th over: England 235-5 ( Root 88, Smith 1) Boland causing all sorts of trouble. Beats Root with one that springs from the pitch, brilliantly taken by Carey; Jamie Smith edges just short of Steve Smith at slip . Root pings four off his pads before being beaten again off the last ball.
53rd over: England 229-5 ( Root 83, Smith 0) Make that the third maiden of the innings. Starc, magnificent, a fist full of short stuff to Jamie Smith. The camera pans on Stokes, hair swept back, arms crossed, sucking his lips in the dressing room.
52nd over: England 229-5 ( Root 83, Smith 0) A second maiden of the innings, Carey coming up and back from the stumps. Stokes’ dismissal was the fourteenth time Starc has got him out in Test cricket, but Glenn McGrath beats him to the medal for the bowler to have got the same man out the most in one Ashes series – he dismissed Mike Atherton seven times.
51st over: England 229-5 ( Root 83, Smith 0) The Starc machine rolls on, Stokes undone once more. England’s run scoring has ground to a halt and the innings faltering.
WICKET! Stokes c Carey b Starc 0 (England 229-5)
A fearsome delivery from Starc, darts off a length and looks as if it brushes Stokes’ bat as he pushes forward. Carey is sure, Starc quizzical, and snikko has its usual brain fade, but gets there in the end. The Stokes v Starc equation this series reads: 39 runs, five dismissals.
50th over: England 228-4 ( Root 82, Stokes 0) England retrench and take a breath. Just a single for Root from Boland’s over.
Hello there ,Benedict Carter. “Here in Zambia it’s raining and the mosquitoes biting. Have got up to smear some mossie repellent on and am hunched over my phone following along. Hope to see Root score at least 150.” Me too! Hope the mossies are suitable repelled.
49th over: England 227-4 ( Root 81, Stokes 0) England forbear an over from Starc.
“Everytime England suffers a drubbing in pursuit of the sacred urn, I satisfy myself with the fact that they are not in fact the real McCoy (the Ashes… not England),” writes Neel Darkshy.
”Some years ago I worked on reconfiguring and extending the home of Ivo Bligh, England captain and proud custodian of not only the Ashes, but also a batting average of one-third of a Crawley.
”The story passed down from generation to generation and on the the new owners was that the maid of the time knocked the urn off the mantelpiece smashing it and replacing the ashes of the original bails with those from the fire.”
A fantastic story! Can it be true?
48th over: England 226-4 ( Root 80, Stokes 0) Alas no hundred for Harry Brook, though he did reach his second highest score against Australia. Stokes flashes at his first ball and it squeaks past the outside edge of his ambitious drive.
WICKET! Brook c Smith b Boland 84 (England 226-4)
Brook leans over, hanging out his bat like a man poking a bull with a stick, and edges a catch to Smith.
47th over: England 223-3 ( Root 78, Brook 83) Here comes England’s spectre. Brook pulls his first ball, splendidly stopped on the rope by Webster. Pancakes his fifth in a not altogether convincing way, but gets away with it.
46th over: England 217-3 ( Root 77, Brook 79) With Brian Draper’s Jerusalem being sung by men in white T-shirts with a printed MCC tie, Root nicks his first ball from Scott Boland for four.
The players are out – here we go!
Time for a very quick coffee, back in five.
“Supporting Joe this morning after realising I was opening batsman for King Ecgbert school in Sheffield which is the same school Joe went to! Only difference is the fact that I was rubbish and he turned into the best batsman in the world!”
Sliding doors Bobby Collick, sliding doors.
Graeme Swann and Cook are dissecting the mystery of Cameron Green: so much potential, they say, but he has lost his mojo. He doesn’t know quite who he supposed to be with either bat or ball. Swann says that his body language is not brimming with confidence either.
England have been warming up with a game of football in their purple practice kit.
Alastair Cook has been casting an eye over Joe Root. “At soon as the sun got on the pitch it got a bit easier. The slowness of the pitch allowed his major scoring shots through the offside. I can’t see how, unless he makes a batsman error, Australian will get him out. I think the odds are in his favour for a hundred.”
Very bold Alastair.
And hello Paul Moody!
“Hi from Brasil, boa noite.
“Too many lows, but still Aussies at home was a hard ask. Dead rubber that this is, maybe it can give a bit of joy.
“I think South Africa look best of all nations now. I’m an expat, living a stereotype beach life here. But still English at my centre.”
The South African women are doing well too. Peculiar when as a nation they’ve thrown so much towards the white-ball game.
“I took my daughters on a minor pilgrimage to the West Sussex village of Felpham today, to visit the cottage where William Blake lived for three years and where he wrote Jerusalem.
“My daughter was a little blank, so I hummed the tune that was put to his words, and rehearsed so religiously by the Barmy Army. “I didn’t know he was a record producer” said my youngest, 15.
“Anyway, it felt like a little connection with the Ashes, half a world away from here. And half a mile down the road from Blake’s cottage, at Middleton on Sea, the cricket ground where my father-in-law tells me he played alongside Mike Brearley and Mike Griffiths, back in the day.
“Ghosts and angels everywhere, and happy reminders of the sheer barmy poetry of it all.”
What a lovely email Brian Draper, thank you. I belatedly learnt today that the fugit in tempus fugit is less flies and more flees. Your email gathers that up beautifully.
It’s minus one here in Manchester, with snow on the ground, due to drift down to minus six by early morning. My tree is drooping but still standing in multi-coloured light gorgeousness, but only it and a panetone are left from Christmas.
Ah, here are the timings for today:
Play commences 10.00am
1st Session 10:00am – 12:30pm
1st Drinks 11:15am
Lunch Break 12.30pm
2nd Session 1:10pm – 3:10pm
Tea Break 3:10pm
Session 3 3:30pm – 5:30pm
Scheduled Stumps 5.30pm
A minimum of 98 overs is scheduled, but an additional 30 mins may be permitted to achieve the minimum overs.
Preamble
Tanya Aldred
Hello to all those who haven’t run out of steam. Rain and bad light, and perhaps the light touch of administrative caution, drew an early curtain on day one, but England finished firmly on top. For the first time this series, England’s two Yorkshiremen, king and pretender, took the sword to Australia in the way we always dreamt they might.
Root was crisply correct, all succulent drives and gin and tonic nudges. Harry Brook more harum scarum, with audacious brilliance mixed with have-a-go-heaves. Their partnership of 154 was the largest of the series.
Australia need Mitchell Starc to pull them out of the doldrums quick smart, in front of another full house at the SCG. The weather is set fair. Do join us, play starts at 11pm GMT/10am Sydney time.