Brisbane [Australia], December 4 : Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden congratulated Joe Root after England's ace batter slammed his maiden Test hundred on Australian soil during Day 1 of the second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Thursday.
Ahead of the high-voltage Ashes series, cricketer-turned-commentator Hayden made a bizarre claim that he would walk around naked in the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) if veteran batter Root failed to hit a century in this series.
To Hayden's relief, Root slammed a fantastic century on Day 1 of the pink-ball Test at the Gabba. "Congratulations mate on a hundred here in Australia. Took you a while and there was no one that had more skin in the game than me, literally. I was backing you for a hundred in a good way. So congratulations, ten fifties and finally a hundred. You little ripper mate. Have a beauty and bloody enjoy it," Matthew Hayden said in a video shared by England Cricket on X.
https://x.com/englandcricket/status/1996531715184181358?s=20
Root slammed his maiden hundred on Australian soil, reaching the milestone in 181 deliveries. Overall, it was Root's 40th hundred in the longest format.
The former England captain Root took 30 innings to reach his maiden hundred in Australia.
The great batter became the second English player, after Maurice Leyland, to score a century on the opening day of a Gabba Test. Overall, Root became the eighth batter to hit a Test hundred for England at the Gabba.
At stumps on Day 1, England were at 325/9 in 74 overs. Joe Root (135 off 202 balls, including 15 fours and one six) and Jofra Archer (32 off 26 balls, with the help of one four and two sixes) were unbeaten on the crease.
For Australia, Mitchell Starc took his second five-wicket haul in the ongoing Ashes series. Overall, it was his 18th fifer in Test cricket.
Brief Scores: England 196/4 (Zak Crawley 76, Joe Root 68*, Mitchell Starc 3/36) vs Australia.
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