Roooooot!!!

The main reason why my sabbatical was planned for this winter was so that I could fulfil my biggest sporting ambition of attending an Ashes series Down Under. Day 1 of the Second Test at the Gabba was a more than adequate start to that experience!

The day started though as the First Test had ended, with England under the cosh. By the third over, we were 5-2.

Step forward Joe Root. England’s all-time leading run scorer had failed to score a hundred in his three previous series in Australia, and this has long been claimed to be a blot on his otherwise stellar copybook. As he batted and batted though – steadily, but not without shaky moments – it felt more and more as if this could be his day. He had decent partnerships with Crawley, Stokes and Jacks, but, with wickets falling at the other end, he was starting to run out of partners (Stokes indeed was run out with a piece of precision fielding from Inglis). But then, with the England fans sick with nerves, he finally got over the line.

He then put on an undefeated 61 for the last wicket with a swashbuckling Jofra Archer, ending the day on 135 not out. The words evolved a bit over the evening, but the Barmy Army (of which I became a member to get my tickets!) soon had a new chant.

The atmosphere in the night session was superb. A bit like Boca Juniors, only this time I knew more of the words! It was a seesaw day, but there had been plenty for us England fans to cheer about and it ended with the match evenly poised.

As we walked back into the city centre, we did acknowledge to the Aussie fans that wicket-keeper Alex Carey’s diving catch to dismiss Gus Atkinson was the “wow moment” of the day (we had a great view and couldn’t but applaud). There was no debate though about the identity of the star of the day: away Ashes centurion, Joe Root!