Former England skipper Sir Alastair Cook was all praises for current England skipper Joe Root and his team after they displayed immense fighting spirit in the ongoing 1st Ashes Test match at the Gabba. Struggling for the better part of this Test match so far, the England cricket team finally fought back in the final two sessions on Friday, riding on the amazing performances of captain Joe Root and Dawid Malan.
Joe Root-led team, who were bowled out for 147 runs on the first day, began their second innings trailing Australia by 278 runs. They started their second innings on the worst possible note, losing their opener Rory Burns when the scoreboard read 23, and soon Haseeb Hamid too was dismissed for 27.
A new record for Joe Root ?
Most Test runs for England in a calendar year as he surpassed Michael Vaughan’s 1481 runs made in 2002.#Ashes | #AUSvENG | #WTC21 pic.twitter.com/BUstL12zW6
— ICC (@ICC) December 10, 2021
Joe Root and Dawid Malan then joined hands as they stitched an unbeaten 159-run partnership. Both the experienced players showed admirable patience and fighting spirit against the lethal Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon to bat through the last session.
After the day’s play speaking to BT Sport, Alastair Cook said that the visitors stood true to Root’s pre-series words, where he said that “they do have character”. He said:
“It was just the day England needed and the tour needed. Everyone was saying England were going to lose at Brisbane again and that it was all doom and gloom – but Root, on day one, said this side had character and they do have character. They were brilliant with the ball in terms of effort and the character Root and Malan showed with the bat was fantastic. The momentum is slowly shifting towards England.”
During the game, Joe Root en route to his unbeaten 158-ball 86, surpassed former England captain Michael Vaughan to become the leading run-getter from England in a single calendar year in the longest format of the game. Root has now amassed 1541 runs in 25 innings this year at an average of 67 with six centuries and two fifties.
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