After the fourth Ashes Test finished in just two days, there was a lot of scrutiny over the nature of the wicket at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the venue of the final Test. But weather ensured that only 45 days of play was possible on the opening day and thereby made sure that more than two days of cricket will be possible.
England, who chose to bat first, reached 211 for three after the usual slump at the top of the innings. Joe Root and Harry Brook combined for an unbroken 154-run stand, the second highest partnership of the series for either side, to ensure England reached stumps in a decent position after just 45 overs were bowled due to rain and lightning.
The trio of frontline quicks each picked up a wicket but allrounder Cameron Green, whose place in the team was under major scrutiny, struggled to hit the right length and finished with 0 for 57 from eight overs. Brook was mostly circumspect by his standards, but did counter-attack when Green resorted to a short-ball tactic, while Root played in trademark style by scoring heavily behind square on the off side.
Amid sunny and humid morning conditions, a relief with grim weather on the radar, England skipper Ben Stokes elected to bat after he won the toss. The skipper’s mood must have turned bad after England’s top-order struggled with the seam movement on a green-tinged surface, losing 3 for 18 by the middle of the first session.
Before the collapse, opener Ben Duckett had feasted on unusually ragged bowling from Australian pacer Mitchell Starc. He whacked the left-arm bowler for five boundaries in less than four overs. Duckett appeared to be carrying over the momentum from his invaluable second-innings cameo at the MCG. He hit Starc for consecutive boundaries to roll to 27 in 23 balls as he and Zak Crawley appeared on the way towards a blossoming partnership that had never previously reached the eighth over in the series.
But Starc finally found the right length and Duckett could not help himself, tamely prodding to a flying Alex Carey. Having impressed in his Ashes debut at the MCG, Jacob Bethell was once again calm and watchful against occasional rampant seam movement from the Australians.
Bethell did not open his account until his 15th ball when he cut Starc through backward point for a boundary, but it was respite amid familiar woe for England’s batters. After swatting a short ball to the fence, Crawley’s latest teaser ended when he fell lbw to a full delivery from Michael Neser before Bethell nicked off to Boland, who had moved over the wicket.
At this juncture, there were fears of another frantic innings, but Root and Brook batted sensibly to ensure England stabilised by lunch. While he removed the monkey on his back after his brilliant ton in Brisbane, Root’s troubles in Australia have mostly remained this series. But this was a golden opportunity to settle in for the long haul despite him almost nicking off on the first delivery.
He nailed his next attempt at his trademark cover drive to get him going, while Brook’s first boundary was unsurprisingly less orthodox after top-edging Boland over the slips.
Australian bowlers seemed to be clueless on how to bowl on a slowing surface and they resorted to a short-ball tactic in the hope that Brook would lose his patience. It almost went to plan when Brook on 45 top-edged Starc into a gap on the leg side before he regrouped to whack Webster for a boundary to bring up a 63-ball half-century.
It followed Root’s half-century off 65 balls as the pair appeared set to bat through the session until the thick clouds started to close in on the ground. Play was halted due to bad light before the weather deteriorated – although it did eventually clear up but stumps was instead called.
Brief scores: England 211/3 (Joe Root 72 batting, Harry Brook 78 batting; Michael Neser 1/36) vs Australia.
