Crawley proves his worth as England find foothold in pink-ball cauldron

It was one of the most intense opening days to a Test match in recent memory.

- Ali Martin

The Gabba was like a cauldron, the air as thick as soup, and with the pink ball zipping around for Mitchell Starc as he continued his bulldozing start to the series, the pressure on England felt relentless.

And yet at 8.38pm local time all this melted away as Joe Root tickled Scott Boland fine for four to seal his 40th Test century and - far more notably - his first on Australian soil at the 30th time of asking. Root insisted this tour was never about addressing the gap in his otherwise stellar CV but, even with a cheeky shrug upon doing so, the sense of relief was palpable.

How England needed Root, with Starc’s latest sublime figures of six for 71, plus some more self-inflicted wounds, threatening to derail their Ashes moonshot inside three days. By stumps they had reached 325 for nine from 74 overs with Root 135 not out - a foothold in the match and a pushback more broadly after 11 days of being tarred and feathered since Perth.

That foothold owed plenty to an unbroken 10th-wicket stand worth 61 runs in which Jofra Archer crashed two sixes and a four to reach 32 not out. The tension lifted from Root’s shoulders and fed into this late salvo, as a day that began with the latest new-ball rampage from Starc - and a familiar sense of English dread - ended with a very different complexion overall.