England reaped the rewards after they decided to ditch Bazball and play Test cricket at the Gabba on Thursday.
Despite Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes claiming they wouldn’t be deviating from their all-out attacking blueprint after their Perth meltdown, they batted more overs on the first day in Brisbane than they did for both innings of the series opener.
And the biggest beneficiary was Joe Root with England’s maestro ending his century drought in Australia in his 16th Test, reaching triple figures an hour before stumps to guide the tourists to a competitive total of 9-325.
Root shelved the ramps, scoops and flamboyance in favour of a solid forward defence, high-percentage strokes and patience as he reached his milestone off 181 deliveries at a traditional strike rate of 55.
He raised his arms in triumph after clipping Scott Boland to the fine leg boundary for the 40th hundred of his glittering career in front of 37,117 fans, including many touring Barmy Army foot soldiers needing solace after being shortchanged in WA.
The 34-year-old finished unbeaten on 135 with 15 boundaries in his breakthrough knock, plus a late switch hit which just cleared the deep third boundary in a final flurry with Jofra Archer.
Mitchell Starc continued his scorching start to the series with 6-71 after bagging 10 at Optus Stadium to pass Wasim Akram’s haul of 414 as the most prolific left-arm quick in Test history.
Starc appeared to be hampered by a leg injury late in the day which is the last thing the Aussies need with their already depleted bowling attack, made worse by their surprising decision to dump Nathan Lyon.
Although the pitch seems to be relatively benign for batting, England possibly have their noses slightly in front after the opening day with team totals usually lower in day-night Tests.
Only 74 overs were bowled despite the extra half-hour of play being called in yet another display of the spectators not getting full value for the money of their ticket.
It looked like England would be capitulating for a third straight innings when Starc struck twice within the first 15 deliveries of the match.
Zak Crawley managed to get off the mark after his pair in Perth but his opening partner became “Golden” Duckett when Ben snicked the first ball he faced to Marnus Labuschagne at first slip.
It was the fourth time in his past six innings that Starc has picked up a wicket in his first over.
He added another when Ollie Pope’s cover-drive went no further than his stumps after a thick inside edge before he had troubled the scorers.
At 2-5, English stiff upper lips were trembling but Crawley counterpunched without getting carried away.
He brought up his half-century in 68 deliveries and appeared on course for a century until he got a feather on a pull shot from recalled Queensland veteran seamer Michael Neser on 76.
The 117-run partnership had placed the tourists in a promising position and Harry Brook took it upon himself to up the ante with his usual array of daring strokes.
With Root passing his half-century, Brook needed to play smart but he tried to launch the first ball he faced from Starc’s third spell to the boundary but succeeded only in edging to Steve Smith at second slip.
Forget about Bazball, the partnership between Root and Ben Stokes was snoozeball as they eked out 34 in 15.4 overs before the skipper tried a dicey single to short cover.
Root rightly told him to get back in his crease but Josh Inglis pounced with a superb pick-up on the bounce to hit the stumps side on in a piece of fielding brilliance which had the great Ricky Ponting looking on in awe from the Seven commentary box.
“It was an absolute fluke,” Inglis modestly told Fox Cricket during the ensuing drinks break.
“It’s just one of those things. It happened really quickly, I was quite pleased it hit the stumps. It was a big wicket.”
Boland speared an off-cutter through Jamie Smith’s defences to register the third duck of the innings before Will Jacks threw away his positive start of 19 by edging a wide Starc delivery to the cordon.
With the Poms scrambling for quick runs to declare so they could have a tricky spell before stumps, the Aussies resorted to blatant time-wasting tactics with Smith taking ages to set his field and calling for a helmet for a short-leg fielder for all of one delivery to further chew up time.
Fox Cricket commentators David Warner and Brett Lee were confounded by Stokes, who has a penchant for declaring, not closing the innings early as Root and No.11 Jofra Archer
“I’m absolutely baffled. Statistics prove that the hardest time to bat is under lights with a brand new cricket ball,” Warner said.
“Maybe they’re having nightmares after Edgbaston,” he added in reference to their controversial declaration which backfired in the 2023 Ashes series opener.
Lee added: “I think they’ve missed a trick here, England.”
Archer, no mug with the bat despite being the last man in, whacked a couple of thunderous sixes in his career-best 32 not out in an entertaining final stand with Root of 61 from 43 balls which swung the pendulum their team’s way.
Australia pulled the selection surprises before the toss with Lyon dropped for a Test on home soil for the first time since 2012.
Lyon was not happy about being left out for the second time in three Tests after being omitted in Jamaica in July.
He was used sparingly in Perth in the series opener but his future is not clouded, according to chief selector George Bailey, who said this decision was a one-off due to the pink-ball Test.
Neser was called up to replace Lyon on his home track while Inglis was given the nod ahead of Beau Webster to replace Travis Head in the middle order after he was elevated to opener again with Usman Khawaja sidelined by a back complaint.
Joe Root celebrates three figures.
Khawaja had a net session out the back of the Gabba as he begins his bid for a recall in the next Test in Adelaide while Lyon had a trundle before copping a full-blooded drive from Webster in the shin, rubbing injury into insult into his day to forget.
Lyon’s absence, combined with Pat Cummins being ruled out from an early return from his back injury and Josh Hazlewood nursing a hamstring injury, meant Australia fielded their most inexperienced frontline bowling attack since they used three spinners in Bangladesh eight years ago.
They toiled hard but Starc was easily the most threatening.
Perhaps this could be a glimpse into the future if the Big Four retire within a short timeframe of each other.
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