The Richies were out in force on an eventful second day, an entire block of supporters decked out in either cream, bone, white, off-white, ivory or beige. Bathed in sunshine, flags fluttering over the two heritage-listed pavilions, the backdrop for Joe Root’s 41st Test hundred was absolutely marvellous.
This has not been the case for Root in Sydney over the years. In 2014, the SCG witnessed the only time he has been dropped by England. In 2018, he made scores of 83 and 58 not out but ended up on a drip due to extreme heat, his side having crumbled to a 4-0 series defeat. Four years later, came a duck and 24, England saving the Test to dodge the whitewash, but his captaincy long since sunk.
But at the fourth time of asking, Root will now leave the harbour city with some happier memories. Resuming on 72, England’s master batter crafted 160 from 242 balls, propping up a total of 384 in 97.3 overs while celebrating his second century of the tour and his first in Australia against the red ball.
Root is now level with Ricky Ponting for Test hundreds, with only Jacques Kallis on 45, and Sachin Tendulkar with 51 above him on this list of all-time greats.
Even with the Ashes gone, this was Root in excelsis, everything wonderfully in sync, the ball played late under his eyes and 15 fours picked off in largely frictionless fashion. It took a sparkling return catch from Michael Neser, who ended with figures of four for 60, to shut him down, Root walking off to a standing ovation. Who knows, even having turned 35 a week ago, Sydney may see Root again in 2030.
Although at the close Root was off the field with cramp in the lower back and the day had changed in a manner that said plenty about England’s tour. Wickets had fallen around him – seven for 173 lost in two sessions – and then when it was England’s turn to bowl on a surface with some nip and variable bounce, the radar went awry and catches went down. Australia, driven by Travis Head’s unbeaten 91 from 87 balls, reached 166 for two after 34.1 breakneck overs.
This final session was not dissimilar to England’s deflating second day at the Gabba: lines and lengths missed and Head happily taking out the trash with that rasping cut shot. Doing his best to challenge Mitchell Starc for the Compton-Miller medal, the left-hander sent 15 fours scorching across the outfield that, with Marnus Labuschagne making 48, shrunk England’s lead to 218 runs going into day three.
The two drops were not overly costly per se, Jake Weatherald reprieved on nine and 15 before falling to Ben Stokes on 21 for his latest lbw. Root tipped a tough one over the bar at slip – possibly the cause of his back problem – while Ben Duckett grassed a low chance at cover that definitely should have stuck. But the two seamers denied, Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse, ended up trudging off at stumps with combined figures of 16 overs, none for 101.
Potts was all over the shop in his first outing of the series. The broader frustration was summed up by Stokes swapping words with Labuschagne before teasing a thick edge, while England’s total had been shown to be solid but far from compelling.
Though Harry Brook nibbled behind on 84 to end a stand of 169 with Root, and a beauty from Starc removed Stokes for a duck, this chiefly came down to a collapse of five for 61 either side of the second new ball – not that the lower order should have been exposed to it.
England were 323 for five in the 75th over, with lunch imminent, and Labuschagne was tasked with sending down some medium-pace bouncers to a spread field. Step forward Jamie Smith – or rather back in this instance – for a cross-batted tennis smash that plopped straight into the hands of deep extra cover. Labuschagne beamed, while England’s supporters recoiled at the witlessness.
Smith had been one half of a stand with Root worth 94 and finished as the third-highest scorer on 46. On paper, not bad. Yet it was an innings in keeping with his tour at large, seven crunched boundaries unable to mask the lack of permanence. It should have been cut down on 22, Cameron Green overstepping when Smith drilled one to cover and then watching the next ball fly past an unmoved Beau Webster at first slip.
Thereafter, despite Will Jacks chiselling out 27 to deny Starc and Boland’s burst with the fresh ball, Neser and Green kept England below 400. The movement all four had mustered should have been encouraging England, but Head was then repeatedly fed. As Richie Benaud might have put it, brains were not especially in gear.
