Brisbane [Australia], December 4 : England's star batter Joe Root's fifty and a decent cameo from Harry Brook powered England to 196/4 at the end of second session of the second Test against Australia at the Gabba, Brisbane on Thursday.
Root brought up his 67th Test fifty; he added 20 runs along with England skipper Ben Stokes. For Australia, Mitchell Starc stood tall again, scalping three of the four visitors' wickets.
England started the second session at 98/2 in 24 overs, with Zak Crawley (61*) and Joe Root (32*) unbeaten on the crease.
Crawley continued to attack Australian bowlers as he slammed two fours off Brendan Doggett in the first over of the second session and brought up a 100-run stand with Root in the 25th over.
This was the second 100+ partnership for England's first two wickets in Australia since 2013/14, the other being 125 between James Vince & Mark Stoneman for the second wicket at the Gabba in 2017/18.
Michael Neser finally broke the partnership in the 28th over, removing Crawley for 76 off 93 balls, and Harry Brook joined Root in the middle. Crawley got going with three boundaries after the break, but he nicked one to the keeper while trying to pull.
Brook counterattacked the Aussie bowlers as he slammed two fours off Doggett in the following over.
In the 33rd over, Joot brought up his 67th Test fifty, after pushing the ball towards backward square leg for a single. At drinks in the second session, England were 166-3, with Root (61) and Brook (24) on the crease.
England added 68 runs in 12 overs after the tea break for the loss of one wicket. In the 38th over, Root and Brook brought up their 50-run stand for the third after Brook smashed a four through cover-point off Cameron Green.
Mitchell Starc, in the next over, removed Brook for 31 off 33 balls, and England skipper Ben Stokes joined Root in the middle. Starc stood tall for Australia once again in a pink-ball contest, bagging three wickets on Day 1.
With twin scalps in the first session and one in the second, Starc rose to the No. 1 spot in the list of left-arm pacers with the most number of wickets in Test cricket (414), beating the legendary Wasim Akram.
Skipper Stokes got going with two back-to-back boundaries off Scott Boland to get his innings underway.
Earlier in the day, England clawed their way back impressively after Crawley and Root steadied the ship with a well-composed, unbeaten 93-run partnership after the visitors suffered an early setback after Australia seamer Mitchell Starc removed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope cheaply in the second Ashes of the five-match series in Brisbane.
At the end of the first session, England was at 98/2 in 24 overs, with Crawley (61*) and Root (32*) unbeaten.
Brief Scores: England 196/4 (Zak Crawley 76, Joe Root 68*, Mitchell Starc 3/36) vs Australia.
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