Brisbane [Australia], December 4 : Following Joe Root's maiden Test ton in Australia, his teammate and opener Zak Crawley expressed happiness for the English superstar, calling him a "champion bloke" and calling him the best player he has ever played with.
Root, who had gone 15 Tests and 29 innings without a Test century in Australia, finally got the monkey off his back and registered a century that could do wonders to his Test legacy as the years roll on. Already the second-highest run-getter of all time chasing Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 15,921 runs, Root finally secured the missing piece of the puzzle. Having scored effortlessly at home and elsewhere, Root has finally conquered his "final frontier" as a batter with this Test century, which happens to be his 40th in the format.
"I am chuffed for him," Crawley said to TNT Sports as quoted by ESPNCricinfo after the day's play.
"He has not been speaking about it at all to us, that is just the outside noise. He is just very focused on just getting whatever score is needed on the day, and proved to be a hundred today."
"But he is the best player I have ever played with, or probably against as well. And he is a champion bloke. I am chuffed to bits for him," he concluded.
Now in Australia, he has scored 1,035 runs at an average of 38.33, with a century and nine fifties in 16 Tests and 30 innings. Across all Tests, he has scored 13,686 runs at an average of 51.45, with 40 centuries and 66 fifties and a best score of 262 after 160 Tests and 291 innings.
Crawley, who had been dismissed for a pair during the Perth Test and had become a victim of Mitchell Starc on both innings, was relieved to have played his hand in England's first innings success with a 70-odd knock.
"I did feel good, to be honest. I felt much better than Perth. I was just trying to keep it simple, just trying to score straight on the leg side, and then if it was really full, maybe on the off side. Yeah, I was happy with my knock," he said.
During the innings, Crawley struck 11 fours and scored at a strike rate of 81.72 during his 93-ball 76, but he was just as watchful with the deliveries pitched outside his off-stump. He had put in a lot of work on this aspect of his games in the nets following a two-day loss at Perth courtesy of a devastating Travis Head century. But he was not pleased that he was dismissed, with a flatter pitch presenting before him a chance to go big in the Aussie land against the 'pink-ball wizards'.
"I felt comfortable. I felt calm today, and managed to settle the nerves. So I was pleased with how I played. I had a clear plan, and I stuck to it. There were still a couple of loose shots in there, as I tend to do, but I got away with them, and I played nicely down the ground as well. By trying to score on the leg side, I left a bit better outside off with the extra bounce today, and then when I got in, the ball started doing a bit less," he said.
"The last few days, it's been really green here. So we all thought it is going to be a green nipper again. And they obviously shaved it this morning, so it looked like a great wicket to bat on, with the overheads as well. I was gutted to get out when I did, the pitch was just getting a bit flatter there," he added.
After England was nine down for 264, Crawley said that there was "no talk of declaring" and putting Aussies to bat under the lights even when Root and Jofra Archer were going strong.
"We were talking about boys going really hard, and if they got out, then it was kind of a win-win situation. So they went hard, and they came off, and there a 50 valuable runs there for us (half-century stand between Root and Jofra Archer)," he concluded.
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.
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