Joe Root’s magnificent innings under pressure at the Gabba confirmed his status as an all-time great with his first century in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A century down under was the one achievement missing from the glittering CV of England’s all-time leading scorer in test matches, but Joe Root has now silenced any questions over his legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sheffield-born batter came in under pressure with England 5-2 at the Gabba, but a classy 138 not out guided England to a competitive total of 334 all out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Australian press had been critical of Root in the build-up to the series, questioning his status as a batting great, even dubbing him “Average Joe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was despite his total of over 13,000 test runs, putting him second on the list of all-time run scorers and within striking distance of Sachin Tendulkar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This pressure intensified after the first test of the series, in which Root registered a duck and then eight in his second innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His struggles were symbolic of an England batting performance many thought was careless and arrogant, with Root flashing at balls that could have been left comfortably on a fifth or sixth stump line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet this time there was no such frenzy, with the Yorkshireman steering the ship for England in a characteristically cool and composed manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He formed a solid partnership with opening batter Zak Crawley, taking England to 122-2 before Crawley was dismissed on 76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Root then remained a reassuring presence at the crease as wickets fell around him, before launching an aggressive counter-attack with tailender Jofra Archer worth 70 runs for the last wicket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attention will now turn to whether England’s best batter can help deliver a first series win in Australia since 2010-11, and the first in his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has a home Ashes to his name alongside a World Cup, but helping to deliver his team a treasured away victory in Australia would be a huge step towards cementing his legendary status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Featured image: Courtesy of @Englandcricket on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Root’s magnificent innings under pressure at the Gabba confirmed his status as an all-time great with his first century in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":75790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n