![\"Mitchell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2249895068-1764845839.jpg\")
Mitchell Starc of Australia bowls during day one of the Second Ashes Test as England captain Ben Stokes watches on [Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images]<\/p>\nEngland get an edge on the first day of second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane as Joe Root hits his first century in Australia.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s Joe Root conquered his final frontier with a first Ashes century in Australia as the tourists pushed past 300 on the first day of the second Test in Brisbane despite a six-wicket haul from pace spearhead Mitchell Starc.<\/p>\n
Root marched off unbeaten on 135 off 202 balls after a late flogging of the pink ball under the Gabba floodlights on Thursday, with England 325 for nine after captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat.<\/p>\n
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Number 11 batter Jofra Archer chipped in a handy 32 not out in an unbroken 61-run partnership for the final wicket, while Zak Crawley shrugged off a pair of ducks from Perth to score a valuable 76.<\/p>\n
Crawley combined with Root in a 117-run partnership to rally England after Starc reduced them to five for two in a disastrous start, with opener Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope falling for ducks in the space of four balls.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe keeps it simple, he just focuses on what runs needed to be scored on the day,\u201d Crawley told TNT Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the best player I have ever played with or against.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Root and Crawley in command, England went to tea at 98 for two during a hot and sunny afternoon, and made the same again in the twilight session to be 196 for four at dinner.<\/p>\n
But their hopes of piling up a huge total were thwarted by the brilliant Starc, who surpassed Wasim Akram as the most prolific left-arm seamer in Tests with 415 dismissals when he captured his third wicket, having Harry Brook caught in the slips for 31.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big gap after the first game, I felt calm today though, and managed to settle the nerves,\u201d added Crawley, who got a pair in the first Test.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to keep it simple. I was gutted to get out when I did because the pitch was getting a little flatter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a clear plan and stuck to it. I tried to hit the ball hard if they came into my area onto my pads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was still a few loose shots in there, and I need to leave a little more outside the off stump, but when I was in, and the ball was soft, I felt I could play a few more on that side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell Starc of Australia bowls during day one of the Second Ashes Test as England captain Ben Stokes watches on [Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images]<\/p>\n
Starc later rattled through the lower order to finish with 6-71 for the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWasim is still up there as one of the best ever with the ball, I think he is still better,\u201d Starc said of his achievement of moving above the former Pakistan seamer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [the pink ball] is still like a white ball; it was a good-paced wicket, and Root has batted well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty rough day\u2019s cricket; when the ball goes soft, it is tough to bowl with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia sprang a surprise by dropping Nathan Lyon for the first home Test since 2012 and picking Michael Neser in a four-pronged seam attack.<\/p>\n
With Usman Khawaja out injured, Australia captain Steve Smith confirmed Travis Head will open for the hosts after his match-winning 123 in Perth.<\/p>\n
Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis takes Head\u2019s usual middle order spot.<\/p>\n
England shelved their four-pronged seam attack, with spin-bowling all-rounder Will Jacks picked in place of Mark Wood.<\/p>\n
Australia lead the five-Test series 1-0 and have not lost to England at the Gabba since 1986.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England get an edge on the first day of second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane as Joe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[77,64,63,740,2057,44,3586],"class_list":["post-327199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-europe","tag-news","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}