London [UK], December 4 (ANI): Former England batter Michael Atherton hailed Joe Root for ending his Test century drought in Australia once and for all, saying that when “everything was on the line”, “England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life”.
Having scored runs all over the world and converting his half-centuries into hundreds at a ridiculously high rate in the decade of 2020s, Root managed to get a massive weight off his chest, mind and entire body as he slammed his first-ever Test century in Australia, something that he needed to do to truly solidify his legacy as a ‘conquer-it-all’ figure in English Test cricket history. Having scored heavily at home and in Asian conditions, Root finally scored his first century on Aussie soil in his 30th inning there.
This was Root’s 40th Test ton. Given all the chatter around his sub-par statistics in Australia, being dubbed as ‘Average Joe’ by Australian print media, and England having faced a devastating two-day loss at Perth in the series opener, this could be one of his more significant Test tons. Also, with this century in Australia, he managed to save Aussie legend Matthew Hayden from the “walking nude around MCG” dare, which the left-handed batter had given to himself in September while expressing his backing for Root to score big in Australia this September on a podcast.
Speaking on Sky Sports Cricket’s Ashes Daily podcast, Atherton said, “It has been a long time coming. The reaction when he got to a hundred, I thought it was such a fantastic moment of theatre. The whole ground stood to him, Aussies and English people, and the decade of disappointment was put to one side. It was a rather funny reaction from Root, almost as if to apologise for having taken so long to get the hundred.”
The former England batter said that scoring the crucial runs in critical times matters, and Root did just that, having walked with his side at 5/2 with Mitchell Starc having sent back Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks with his favourite weapon, a pink ball in hand.
“He was in for the 16th ball of the innings, at 5-2, so it could have gone horribly wrong. With Mitchell Starc knocking back [Ben] Duckett and [Ollie] Pope for ducks, all those memories of Perth flooding back, but then England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life – because everything is on the line here,” said Atherton.
“You listen to Ben Stokes, he was asked that question at the toss, ‘is this your most important game as England captain?’ He said it is, and never has he needed Root more,” he added.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain also had a befitting reply for the Aussie media after they had labelled Root as an “average Joe”, saying that the batter deserved his moment of glory in the Aussie land and watching Root bat made him nervous, which does not usually happen with him.
“He was far from average Joe today,” Hussain told the podcast.
“Let us get it crystal clear, he is one of England’s all-time greatest batters, and he deserved that moment, that day, today. I very rarely get nervous watching present-day cricket, but I get did get nervous today. He has got 39 Test hundreds before today, and none of those I was worried about, but I was worried about this one, simply because of its significance, because of the hype, because of the chat,” he added.
Coming to the match, England won the toss and opted to bat first. After Mitchell Starc (6/71) reduced England to 5/2, getting both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for a duck, Root put on a 117-run stand with Zak Crawley (76 in 93 balls, with 11 fours). Another half-century stand with Harry Brook (31 in 33 balls, with four boundaries) followed.
Australia managed to make inroads in the game courtesy a fine run out from Josh Inglis to remove England skipper Ben Stokes (19) and had England down at 264/9 eventually, with Starc completing his sixth five-wicket haul in pink-ball Tests. But some fine hitting from Root and Jofra Archer (32* in 26 balls, with a four and two sixes) helped England put up 325/9 at the end of day one in 74 overs. (ANI)
