Root and Brook shine before storms halt charge

As the rain fell on the Sydney Cricket Ground, cutting the opening day of this fifth Ashes Test into exactly half the number of allotted overs, you could practically hear the champagne corks being popped in the Cricket Australia offices.

- Ali Martin

Harry Brook (left) and Joe Root leave the field as tea is taken early

Perhaps the groundsman's hut also.The huge losses incurred by the two-dayers in Perth and Melbourne put CA and the SCG on red alert as regards a repeat. Unless something absurd were to happen on the second day - England had reached 211 for three when play was abandoned at 5pm on the first - this series finale should last a fair bit longer.

Another cause for administrative optimism was the ease with which Joe Root and Harry Brook built an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 154 runs. The top order crumbled to 57 for three - nothing new there - but then an Australia attack without a spinner in Sydney for the first time since the days of Queen Victoria began to look short of ideas.

Perhaps this should have been expected. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon were absent for the hosts, while Root and Brook are one and two respectively in the Test batting rankings. Handed first use of a surface offering far less movement than its predecessor, there was every reason to expect runs to flow.