Joe Root and Harry Brook’s unbroken 154-run partnership steers England to 211-3 at tea on day one of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney
JOE Root and Harry Brook shared an unbroken 154-run partnership to rescue England on day one of the fifth Ashes Test.
The pair steered the tourists to 211-3 at tea after they had been struggling at 57-3 earlier in the day.
Root was unbeaten on 72 and Brook was 78 not out when bad light ended the session early at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The world’s top two-ranked batsmen counter-attacked on a decent batting pitch that offered little for the bowlers.
Both players brought up hard-fought half-centuries during the second session.
England lost Ben Duckett (27), Zak Crawley (16) and Jacob Bethell (10) before lunch.
Duckett was lively early, crunching five boundaries from Mitchell Starc in a quickfire 27.
Starc had the last laugh, enticing an outside edge to wicketkeeper Alex Carey for his fifth dismissal of Duckett this series.
Crawley was trapped lbw by Michael Neser, and Bethell edged Scott Boland to Carey.
Root and Brook then joined forces to begin the rebuild, rotating the strike well and punishing loose balls.
Root brought up his 67th Test half-century with a single off Beau Webster.
Only Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, with 68, has scored more Test fifties.
Brook was fortunate on 45 when he slogged Starc and the ball dropped between three fielders.
He kept his composure to reach his 15th half-century soon after Root.
England came into the game buoyed by a four-wicket win inside two days at the previous Test in Melbourne.
That victory snapped a 15-year winless streak in Australia but came too late to save the series.
The hosts had already retained the urn by winning in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Australia included allrounder Beau Webster in place of quick Jhye Richardson, with off-spinner Todd Murphy overlooked.
It is the first time in almost 140 years that the hosts have not played a front-line spinner during a Sydney Test.
England brought in seamer Matthew Potts for the injured Gus Atkinson in their only change.
The day began with a tribute to first responders at the recent Bondi mass shooting attack.
Huge cheers greeted hero Ahmed Al Ahmed, who tackled one of the gunmen, when he appeared on the big screen.
