Ashes 2023: Australia make steady start after Root's ton steers England to surprise first-day declaration

Australia made a steady start in their first innings after Joe Roots excellent century steered England to a surprise declaration on an intriguing opening day of the first Ashes 2023 Test here on FridayRoots unbeaten 118 not out his 30th century in Test cricket was the standout contribution on a surface that offered little for the bowlers and was the 32yearolds fourth hundred against Australia but his first since 2015 His ton drew him level with Matthew Hayden and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the alltime list just three behind Alastair Cooks England record of 33England opted for a firstevening declaration with the score on 3938 in their first innings after scoring at a rate of more than fiveanover across the day And Australias openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner will resume on 140 379 behind having survived a tricky minisession at the end of Fridays playEarlier 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 CumminsAlso Read Super unlucky Harry Brooke departs after neverseenbefore dismissal WatchAnd 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 73ball 61Crawleys was one of three wickets to fall in the opening session Josh Hazlewood replacing Mitchell Starc in the one change from the XI who won the ICC World Test Championship Final had Ben Duckett 12 caught behind early on And Nathan Lyon removed Ollie Pope for 31 with the first of his 4149 on the dayEngland began the afternoon session well with Root and Harry Brook forming a 50run partnership before the youngster fell in bizarre fashion A legside delivery from Lyon struck Brook on the thigh pad and looped up and out of the eyeline of the batter keeper and close fielders before dropping the other side of Brook and spinning back onto the stumpsIt was a highly unfortunate dismissal for Brook who was forced to depart after a promising 32 And his captain was soon to follow with Ben Stokes edging behind off Hazlewood for 1Australias tails were up with the score at 1765 but Root and Jonny Bairstow batted beautifully to get England up to a reasonable score on a good batting trackBairstow was undone when he charged down the wicket to Lyon stumped for a runaball 78 And Moeen Alis 18run cameo ended in similar fashion as Alex Carey whipped off the bailsHowever some solid contributions from Broad and Robinson gave Root some assistance to get to his hundred which the former England captain did in styleA reverse sweep and a ramp shot both of which went for six had the Edgbaston crowd on their feet in an innings that saw Root playing largely within himself reaching his ton with a flicked single and finishing on 118 from 152 ballsRoot played a few shots as the clock ticked towards 1800 hrs England time to set up a declaration that came as a surprise to many around the groundAnd England pushed hard for a breakthrough to no avail in a fourover spell before the close with Usman Khawaja and David Warner set to return to the middle with the score on 14 without loss on Saturday morningBrief scoresEngland 3938 decl Joe Root 112 not out Zak Crawley 61 Nathan Lyon 4149 Josh Hazlewood 261 lead Australia 140 by 379 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever