Ashes 2015: Joe Root century galvanises England in Cardiff

First Test, day one, Cardiff

England 343-7: Root 134, Ballance 61, Stokes 52

Australia yet to bat

A superb century from Joe Root helped England to a positive 343-7 after they had made a shaky start to day one of the first Ashes Test in Cardiff. 

The 24-year-old joined Gary Ballance at 43-3 after Adam Lyth (6), Alastair Cook (20) and Ian Bell (1) all fell cheaply. 

Root added 153 with Ballance (61), and 84 with Ben Stokes, before falling to Mitchell Starc for 134 from 166 balls. 

Starc bowled Stokes (52) to end with 3-84, while Josh Hazlewood claimed 3-70, as Australia regained some control. 

While Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood shared six wickets, Mitchell Johnson toiled on an unresponsive pitch after England won the toss and chose to bat. 

The left-arm paceman, England's tormentor-in-chief during the 5-0 Ashes whitewash down under, conceded 87 runs from his 20 overs as the hosts shaded the balance of an enthralling day's play. 

Josh Hazlewood claimed his first Ashes wicket, dismissing Adam Lyth in the second over

Once the fireworks and fanfare of a rain-delayed opening ceremony were out of the way, Australia began their quest for a first Ashes win in England since 2001 with three early wickets. 

Adam Lyth's first Ashes innings lasted only 10 balls as he was squared up by Starc and sharply taken off a leading edge by David Warner in the gully. 

England captain Alastair Cook had looked relatively comfortable against the new ball, but fell for 20 trying to take on Nathan Lyon's off-spin, his attempted cut lodging in Brad Haddin's gloves.
England were plunged deeper into the mire in the following over when Ian Bell was trapped lbw by a full delivery from Starc.

Root to the rescue

Joe Root (left) and Gary Ballance (right) added 153 for the fourth wicket

England could easily have entered damage-limitation mode, but Root took the opposite approach.
Cutting and pulling anything short, and hurtling between the wickets, he raced to fifty in 56 balls and completed his seventh Test century soon after tea with a characteristic cover drive.

The 153-run stand between Joe Root and Gary Balance means England have already equalled the number of century partnerships they managed in the entire 2012-13 Ashes series in Australia.

In the meantime Ballance, Root's one-time housemate, rediscovered the form that had deserted him in recent Tests as he compiled his first fifty in seven innings. 

His partnership with Root was worth 153 when Ballance played around a straight ball from Hazlewood and was out lbw.

But it could have been very different...

Joe Root was dropped on 0 by Brad Haddin off the bowling of Mitchell Starc (pictured)

Root's crucial counter-punching innings could easily have been over before it started.
After surviving a narrow lbw appeal off his first ball, he edged his next delivery towards Haddin, who dived to his right and shelled the chance. 

Ex-England batsman Geoff Boycott on Test Match Special
"Haddin should have got two mitts to that catch off Joe Root, he never looked as if he was going to catch it. Root played marvellously from then on, he took the game away from Australia by being busy, didn't try to slog it, orthodox cricket with nice footwork."

Summarising for Test Match Special, former England captain Michael Vaughan said Haddin's drop "could be a key moment in the series". 

It will be some time before we know whether Vaughan's prophecy is fulfilled but, like all leading batsmen, Root made the most of his reprieve with a sublime hundred that changed the complexion of the day.

Mitchell Johnson conceded 87 wicket-less runs from his 20 overs 

Central to Root's strategy was an aggressive approach towards Johnson, whose 37 wickets destroyed England in the 2013-14 series.

With the exception of a spell in which he unsettled Ballance with short balls, Johnson struggled on a pitch ill-suited to his talents. 

So frequently did England hit him to the boundary that by the final session the Barmy Army felt emboldened enough to mock Johnson with chants about his wayward bowling that had not been aired since his toils on the 2010-11 series down under.

With their talisman struggling, Australia were indebted to Starc, who found late swing to have Root caught at slip and Stokes clean bowled in the final session. 

Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali countered with a measured assault on the new ball to take England well past 300. 

And even Buttler's disappointing demise - holing out to mid-on - could not take the gloss of a highly encouraging England display. 

Stats of the day

Joe Root has scored more runs than any other player in Test cricket this year

 Shaw Post believes that the match is delicately poised as the England Cricket Team have ended Day One  in a quite  commanding position at 343/7. If Moen Ali, Broad and Mark Wood could get in then we're potentially looking at England being bowled out for around the 450 - 480 mark. If this happens then they should be very content as it means that the bowlers have a lot of runs to work with.

If James Anderson, Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad and Mark Wood get into their top bowling form then you're looking at Australia being bowled out potentially around 250-280 which means that England would have a lead of around 160 - 200 runs when England go into bat in the second innings

Let's see how this first test pans out but whatever happens in this match you're in for a treat.