Joe Root finally snapped his long-standing century drought in Australia, rising to the occasion with a composed, pressure-soaked hundred in the challenging pink-ball Ashes Test at the Gabba in Brisbane. The England star delivered when it mattered most, standing tall in testing conditions to reclaim command on Australian soil. The former English skipper was unbeaten on 135 at stumps on Day 1 where his batting partners were struggling to get going against Mitchell Starc and Co. against the pink ball.
The former England captain, who has scored tons in every other major Test-playing nation, had been under constant scrutiny for his numbers Down Under. With the chatter growing louder ahead of the pink-ball Test in Brisbane, the pressure was unmistakable, but Root rose to the moment at the Gabba, absorbing the heat and producing a superb, composed century to silence the noise.
Root’s long-awaited century in Australia created a moment that transcended rivalry, drawing admiration from both sets of fans. Reflecting on the atmosphere at the Gabba, former England batter Michael Atherton captured the emotion and theatre surrounding Root’s landmark knock.
“The reaction when he got to a hundred, I thought it was such a fantastic moment of theatre. The whole ground stood to him, Aussies and English people, and the decade of disappointment put to one side. It was a rather funny reaction from Root, almost as if to apologise for having taken so long to get the hundred,” Atherton said on Sky Sports.
Atherton said that scoring the crucial runs in critical times matters, and Root did just that, having walked with his side at 5/2 with Mitchell Starc having sent back Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks with his favourite weapon, a pink ball in hand.
“What matters to him more than anything, is scoring crucial runs at a critical time. He was in for the 16th ball of the innings, at 5-2, so it could have gone horribly wrong,” he added.
“England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life”
Atherton hailed it as the innings of his life, praising the electrifying moment when he reached his hundred — a scene that united the entire ground and erased a decade of disappointment, capped by Root’s almost apologetic reaction.
“With Mitchell Starc knocking back [Ben] Duckett and [Ollie] Pope for ducks, all those memories of Perth flooding back, but then England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life – because everything is on the line here. You listen to Ben Stokes, he was asked that question at the toss, ‘is this your most important game as England captain?’ He said it is, and never has he needed Root more,” he added.
