Joe Root gets his first Test century in Australia

Joe Root ends the drought with his first Test ton in Australia, delivering a crucial Ashes performance for England.

By the time Joe Root landed in Perth for the Ashes 2025-26, the Western Australian newspaper dubbed him ‘Average Joe.’ The noise was at its peak when he returned with a seven-ball duck and eight across the two innings of the opening Test at the Optus Stadium. The pressure was immense on the former England captain, who had endured a Test century drought in Australia for nearly 12 years.

But during the second fixture of the series at the Gabba, Root answered all the critics about his batting down under. His unbeaten century by the end of the opening day’s play made him the undisputed king of England’s Test batting. He perhaps didn’t let the emotions float before the Queensland crowd, but there was a sigh of relief.

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Joe Root gets monkey off his back with maiden Test century in Australia
When Ben Stokes decided to bat first on a sunny afternoon, he perhaps didn’t expect England to lose two wickets inside the first 15 balls. Opener Ben Duckett’s loose defense gave Australia his outside edge into the hands of the slip fielder. Their number three, Ollie Pope, ended up dragging Mitchell Starc’s short ball onto the stumps with an angled bat through an inside edge.

Root walked into the middle in familiar conditions. This is exactly how he used to arrive in the middle during his captaincy stint. It didn’t take much time for the home bowlers to counter the Yorkshire batter’s fifth and sixth stump. Having already made the mistake twice two weeks ago, he was attentive this time around.

On his third delivery, Root got a massive life. The good length delivery from Starc squared up Root, who played the line around the off stump. It took his outside edge as Steven Smith dived to his left in front of the first slip to go for a one-handed catch. But the ball dipped at the last moment and didn’t stick in his hands before dribbling away to the fence.

Since that moment, Root installed a new counter-attacking method against Australia’s plan. The 34-year-old kept leaving the balls outside his eyeline and waited for the bowlers to target his stumps. Once they missed the line, he brought the flick shots to get his feet moving with singles and doubles. Zak Crawley, from the other end, collected a few quick boundaries to release the scoreboard pressure.

Half an hour into the twilight period, Root reached his 67th Test half-century with a single into the backward square leg region. In the second session, when the floodlights started to take full effect, Root collected only one boundary for two hours. That was totally against the Bazball approach. And that was exactly what the former players of the side wanted him to do.

The third session didn’t start well for the visitors, with them losing both Stokes and Jamie Smith in three balls. But Root didn’t let those setbacks come before his landmark. Just before his century, he timed a short ball from Brendan Doggett into deep square leg for a rollicking boundary. That reflected how he adjusted himself to the pace and bounce of the Gabba track.

There were nerves when he moved to 98. But he finally got the monster monkey off his back with a glance into the fine leg fence for a boundary. Root celebrated his 40th Test century and, most importantly, his first in Australia.

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Joe Root’s special century keeps England ahead at Gabba
Joe Root was relieved with his century, but he didn’t drop guard after reaching the landmark. In fact, he decided to push the gears up from that point. He arched back and carved away the short ball from Scott Boland to the third man fence for a boundary. When the pacer went outside the off stump, the veteran premeditated the delivery and reverse scooped this over the fielder for a massive six. His 61-run partnership with Jofra Archer helped England race away to 325 by the end of the opening day. It has also become the highest tenth-wicket partnership in a day-night Test.

Root remained unbeaten on 135 in 202 balls by the end of the day’s play with the help of 15 boundaries and one six. He was just one run short of his best knock of 136 in a pink ball Test that he achieved against West Indies in 2017. It’s also the second-highest individual score against Australia in a day-night Test.

England’s 325/9 is also the second-highest score against Australia in a day-night Test. Root will be key for them to shoulder the score beyond the 350-run mark on the second day. He has breached the first hurdle of individual success in this trip, but his eyes will be on the urn, come the first week of January, 2026.

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