After waiting a dozen years and 15 test matches, Joe Root took a little extra time to savor his first Ashes hundred in Australia.

He took off his batting helmet, kissed the badge and held up his bat to celebrate the milestone in front of a capacity crowd of 37,117 at the Gabba on Day 1 of the second test. The Barmy Army, the Aussies and the neutrals sang his name in unison.

“Even Australians have to admit he is a great now,” former England captain Alastair Cook said on broadcaster TNT Sports.

The English veteran — Root will turn 35 before the year is out — arrived in Australia last month to newspaper headlines describing him as “Average Joe,” deriding the No. 1-ranked test batter for two glaring omissions on his record in the Ashes.

He’d never won a test match in Australia and had never posted a century in an Ashes contest Down Under, despite accumulating 39 elsewhere.

Root finally checked off one of the few milestones missing from his impressive cricket CV with an unbeaten 135 on Thursday (December 4, 2025).

The drought Down Under that dated to 2013 ended when he reached triple figures under lights in the day-night match at the Gabba, against the pink ball.

“It was a technical masterclass from England’s best player,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said on Australian TV coverage.

Root is on his fourth Ashes tour to Australia, where his previous highest test score was 89.

He scored 0 and 8 in the eight-wicket loss in the series-opener in Perth last month, increasing the pressure on his form.

Root was 88 not out at drinks midway through the night session. He moved into the 90s for the first time in Australia with a boundary off Brendan Doggett. He hit another boundary next ball to go to 96.

With Root on 98, Will Jacks chased a wild shot against Mitchell Starc and was out for 19 to end their 40-run stand. England was 251-7.

Not to be outdone again, Root reached the century with a legside boundary against Scott Boland to his great relief, and to the great relief of his decidedly more nervous teammates.

The England and Wales Cricket Board wrote on X: “No doubt before. No doubt now. A true great of the game.”

Shaky start

It was Root’s 40th century in his 160th test. He is already the second-highest run-scorer in history — his 13,600-plus test runs are second only to India great Sachin Tendulkar.

Root went to the crease in the third over with England reeling at 5-2 after Starc’s opening burst.

After edging Starc through the slips early, Root reached his half-century from 83 deliveries. And, after surviving two reviews by the Australians for lbw, his breakthrough century came off 181 balls.

He shared vital partnerships of 117 with Zac Crawley (76), 54 with Harry Brook (31) and 44 with Ben Stokes. He and No. 11 Jofra Archer shared an unbroken 61-run stand to take England to 325-9 at stumps.

Crawley said Root’s knock was flawless.

“It’s a phenomenal knock,” Crawley said. The ball “was doing plenty when he first came in and he was so calm, and he was so clear as well about how he wanted to go about it.

“If you put everything into consideration, yeah, it’s got to be one of his best.”

Starc took six wickets but couldn’t claim Root, too.

“I’m sure he’d be relieved to get that 100,” Starc said. “He played fantastically well today and assessed the conditions, sucked up some pressure, and got the result by the end of the day.” One Australian relieved that Root got triple figures was ex-test opener Matthew Hayden, who’d vowed to do a nude lap around the Melbourne Cricket Ground if the Englishman’s drought extended beyond this series.

He sent his congratulations to Root in a video message to England Cricket.

“It took you a while and there was no one that had more skin in the game than me, literally,” Hayden, now working as a commentator, said. “I was backing you for a hundred in a good way, so congratulations.”

Published – December 05, 2025 04:19 am IST

Ben Stokes (left) and Jamie Smith leave the field after the practice match between England and the England Lions at Lilac Hill on November 15, 2025 in Perth, Australia
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Harry Brook of Engkand bats watched by Australia wicketkeeper Josh Inglis during the 4th Metro Bank ODI between England Australia at Lord’s Cricket Ground on September 27, 2024 in London.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Playing at Lord’s for the first time since a heated Ashes Test last year when they were accused in crowd chants of cheating, the Australians were steamrollered in a 186-run loss to England in the fourth match of their ODI series on Friday, September 27, 2024.

“In the end, they thoroughly outplayed us today,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said.

The series is tied at 2-2 heading into the decider in Bristol on Sunday.

In a match reduced to 39 overs per side because of wet weather, England powered to 312-5 thanks to 87 from stand-in captain Harry Brook and an unbeaten 62 from Liam Livingstone, who hit 28 runs off the final over by Mitchell Starc.

Australia was bowled out for 126 in 24.4 overs, losing its 10 wickets for 58 runs having been 68-0 early in its chase.

Australia’s cricket team — the World Champion in the 50-over format — rarely gets beaten as heavily as this.

After winning 14 straight games, the tourists have now lost two in a row.

Australia hadn’t played at Lord’s since a test against England in the summer of 2023 that will live long in Ashes infamy.

A controversial stumping of England batter Jonny Bairstow by wicketkeeper Alex Carey led to Australia players being jeered mercilessly, with Usman Khawaja and David Warner getting verbally abused and touched by Marylebone Cricket Club members in the sacred Long Room at the lunch interval.

British newspaper The Guardian reported that security was tightened at Lord’s 15 months on, with ropes in the Long Room pushed back to widen the walkway for the teams and stairwells off limits to members when players are on the move.

Every England batter got into double figures after Australia won the toss and opted to bowl under a cloudy sky.

Ben Duckett got England off to a fast start with 63 off 62 and that was bettered by Brook, who followed up his innings of 110 — his first ODI century — in the win in Durham in the third ODI on Tuesday with 87 off 58 balls, which contained 11 fours and one six.

Livingstone and Jacob Bethell (12 not out) put on 71 runs in seven overs in an unbroken stand for the seventh wicket. Livingstone dominated the partnership, smashing three fours and seven sixes — four of those maximums coming in that expensive last over by Starc — in a 27-ball knock.

“Liam Livingstone played a gem of an innings,” Marsh said.

Starc had figures of 0-70 off his eight overs, with spinner Adam Zampa — back from illness — also expensive but at least getting in the wickets with 2-66 off eight overs.

England’s bowlers were much more dangerous on an increasingly sticky wicket, especially Jofra Archer, who was sending down deliveries as quick as 93 miles per hour (150km/ph) in his first ODI at the home of cricket since the 2019 World Cup final.

Set the equivalent of 400 in a regulation ODI, Australia raced to 68-0 but stumbled to 96-6 after Brydon Carse and Archer turned up the heat to take five of the first six wickets. Carse finished with 3-36, Archer had 2-33 and fellow pacer Matthew Potts claimed 4-38.

After openers Marsh (28) and Travis Head (34), no batter made more than 13. (AP) AH AH

England’s Harry Brook celebrates after reaching his century
| Photo Credit: Reuters

England captain Harry Brook struck his first one-day international century before his team clinched a 46-run win by the DLS method to keep alive the series against Australia on Tuesday.

Chasing 305 to win the third ODI, England was 254-4 — with Brook unbeaten on 110 — when heavy rain arrived in the day-nighter at Chester-le-Street. The teams didn’t get back on the field and England was well ahead of the run-rate.

Australia, which had cruised to dominant wins at Southampton and Leeds in this five-match series, saw its lead trimmed to 2-1 and its 14-match winning run in ODIs come to an end. During that streak, the team won the Cricket World Cup in India last year.

Coming to the crease with England in trouble on 11-2, Brook took on Australia’s seam attack by hitting 13 fours and two sixes in a 94-ball knock to easily surpass his previous ODI-best score of 80.

“I’m relieved, for sure. It’s just nice to see some rewards,” said Brook, who gained his first win as stand-in skipper for the injured Jos Buttler. “I’m just glad I managed to play the way I wanted to. It’s nice to get that first hundred on the board and hopefully there’s plenty more to come.

“I feel like I’ve been a little bit stop-start this summer. I’ve had a lot of starts — 30s and 40s — and then not managed to convert, which is frustrating. To do that today, I feel like I’m back in a good place.”

The series continues on Friday with the fourth ODI at Lord’s.

Playing without explosive opener Travis Head (rested) and star spinner Adam Zampa (ill), Australia was put into bat and needed a strong finish — mainly thanks to Alex Carey’s unbeaten 77 and No. 8 batter Aaron Hardie’s 44 off 26 — to post 304-7 off its 50 overs.

Steve Smith hit a patient 60 off 82 balls, after the tourists’ innings was slowed by losing Cameron Green (42) and Marnus Labuschagne (0) in space of five balls just past the halfway mark.

It looked a tough chase for a youthful England team that had been outclassed so far this series and things started badly when Mitchell Starc dismissed Phil Salt (for an eight-ball duck) and Ben Duckett (8) in the same over — Australia’s third.

Brook embraced the pressure of the occasion and went on the attack pretty much from the start of his innings.

His third-wicket stand of 156 with Will Jacks (84 off 82 balls) swung the momentum England’s way and the team maintained it when the big-hitting Liam Livingstone came in at No. 6 and immediately smashed two sixes.

Brook used the uppercut to great effect to deal with some short-pitched bowling from the Australians and hit a straight drive for four to get to 99. Off the next ball, he opened the face and edged for another four to reach his century, prompting him to remove his helmet and look to the sky.

Brook’s second fifty came off just 33 deliveries.

England’s push for victory was then held up by the rain that arrived in the 38th over. It got heavier and heavier, with the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern formula showing that the hosts were well in front of the run-rate.

Brook made some interesting comments after the series opener in Nottingham, reflecting on some loose dismissals by saying: “If you get caught somewhere on the boundary or in the field, then who cares?”

He said his words had been misunderstood.

“I think people took that a little bit the wrong way. You’ve got to go out and play fearlessly and almost have that ‘who cares?’ attitude. But that’s not a ‘who cares if we lose?’ attitude,” Brook said.

“We all want to win, but you don’t want to go out and have that fear of getting out.”

Travis Head of Australia bats watched by England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith during the 1st ODI between England and Australia at Trent Bridge on September 19, 2024 in Nottingham, England.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Travis Head was at his belligerent best in smashing a career-best 154 not out to underpin Australia’s chase of 316 to win the first one-day international against England on Thursday (September 19, 2024) and gain a 13th straight victory in the 50-over format.

It was the left-handed opener’s sixth ODI century — and his first since a similarly brutal knock of 137 in Australia’s victory over India in the World Cup final 10 months ago.

The tourists needed a big innings from someone after Ben Duckett hit 95 in England’s 315 all out at Trent Bridge, a ground known for being a batter’s paradise with short boundaries.

England would have hoped for more after being 211-2 after 32 overs, only for Australia’s spinners — including part-time slow bowler Marnus Labuschagne (3-39) — to slow down the run rate and take nine wickets in total, many at crucial times. England’s final seven wickets fell for 83 runs, with Head even getting involved with two of the wickets.

Head then let rip with with the bat, hitting 20 fours and five sixes as Australia strolled to 317-3 and a seven-wicket victory with six overs remaining. It was the highest individual score by an Australian in England and bettered his 152 against the English in Melbourne in November 2022, further enhancing his status as one of the world’s best and most destructive white-ball batters.

“I’ve worked extremely hard over a few years and I probably play the game a bit more relaxed now,” Head said. “I take it for what it is and try to enjoy what I’m doing. It’s coming off in the way I’m playing.”

To celebrate his century, Head perched his helmet on the top of his bat handle and raised it to the sky. He was there at the end to see Australia over the line in its highest successful ODI chase in England.

Labuschagne was there, too — just like he was in that World Cup final run chase in Ahmedabad — and posted an unbeaten 61-ball 77.

In England’s innings, Will Jacks hit 62 for his third half-century in eight ODIs, and Australia’s lead spinner Adam Zampa had 3-49 off 10 overs in his 100th ODI.

“We were eyeing up a big score, for sure,” England stand-in captain Harry Brook said. “It wasn’t meant to be. It was difficult there in the middle against the spinners, we probably didn’t rotate the strike as well as we wanted and we ended up getting a below-par score in the end.”

The second ODI of the five-match series between the fierce cricket rivals is at Headingley on Saturday and Australia will hope to have senior players Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell available, after they missed out in Nottingham because of illness.

The Australians are set to be without pacer Ben Dwarshuis, who was making his ODI debut but sustained a suspected pectoral strain while throwing off-balance from the boundary during England’s innings and went off injured.

Dwarshuis had only bowled four overs to that point and never returned to the field. His absence was part of the reason why Australia bowled only spin for the last 18 overs of England’s innings — and the ploy worked.

“The longer the innings went on, we thought pace off was the better option,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “It was a gut feel and the way we bowled, especially our part-timers, was fantastic.”