Joe Root and Harry Brook tamed Australia’s all-pace attack with an unbroken 154-run stand on Sunday to save England and give them the upper hand after a rain-soaked first day of the fifth and final Ashes Test.
Batting after skipper Ben Stokes won the toss at a sold-out Sydney Cricket Ground, they took the tourists to 211-3 when poor light forced the players off the field just before tea.
Subsequent rain and the risk of lightning made it impossible to continue play, with stumps being called an hour early.
Root was not out on 72 and Brook on 78 after facing England reeling at 57-3 following the wickets of Ben Duckett (27), Zak Crawley (16) and Jacob Bethell (10) before lunch.
The world’s two best batsmen set out to counter-attack on a decent batting pitch offering little movement to the bowlers.
Both recalled hard-fought half-centuries and, with dark storm clouds looming, kept the scoreboard spinning at a rapid pace.
“We’re in a really good position, obviously three points ahead at the end of the game,” Brook said.
“Hopefully we can make the most of it tomorrow.”
“It was a good pitch,” he added.
“When I first came in, I felt like the bounce was quite steep. But then it started to get a bit lower and slower and generally looks like a good wicket.” England went into the match strengthened by a four-wicket win in two days in the previous Test in Melbourne, desperate to maintain the momentum.
The victory ended Australia’s 15-year winless streak, but came too late to save the series, with the hosts retaining the urn with wins in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Australia sprung a surprise by including all-rounder Beau Webster in place of quick Jhye Richardson, with off-spinner Todd Murphy overlooked.
‘I hate doing this’
It is the first time in almost 140 years that the hosts have not played a front-row player in a Test in Sydney.
“I hate doing this,” Australian skipper Steve Smith said. “But if we continue to produce wickets that we don’t think are going to turn and the seams will play a big role and the cracks will play a big role, you’ll kind of be pushed into a corner.”
England brought in seamer Matthew Potts to replace the injured Gus Atkinson in their only change, with their frontline slow bowler Shoaib Bashir missing for a fifth successive Test.
The day began with a tribute to first responders to last month’s Bondi mass shooting that killed 15 people, with huge cheers when hero Ahmed Al Ahmed, who tackled one of the gunmen, appeared.
Duckett was lively when play began, hitting five boundaries from Mitchell Starc in a quickfire 27 off 24 balls.
But England’s tormentor-in-chief, Mitchell Starc, had the last laugh, drawing an outside edge of an angled ball towards wicketkeeper Alex Carey at full stretch.
This was Starc’s fifth time featuring Duckett in this series.
Crawley were next to go, trapped in weight by Michael Neser, with both openers back in the sheds from the first drinks break and the tourists in trouble on 51-2.
A cautious Bethell took 15 balls to get off the ground and never looked confident.
He departed after encouraging a stirring delivery from Scott Boland which took a slight edge over Carey as England fell to 57-3.
Root joined Brook at the crease and they began to rebuild.
They rotated the strike well and punished any loose balls, with Root bringing up his 67th half-century, and partnership 100, with a single off Webster.
Only Indian great Sachin Tendulkar, with 68, has scored more Test fifty.
Brook was lucky to survive on 45 when he hit Starc and the ball fell between three chasing defenders.
But he kept his cool to reach a 15th half-century four balls after Root, driving Webster through the covers for a boundary.
