Tuesday 9 April 2019 12:43, UK
Joe Root has started the County Championship season in style by hitting an unbeaten century for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire.
Having made 73 in the first innings, Root arrived at the crease with Yorkshire in trouble at 24-2 in the second and facing a heavy defeat at Trent Bridge.
However, Root, after being hit on the helmet early on by Stuart Broad, and Gary Ballance batted the away side out of trouble in an unbroken stand of 253 and the England captain went through to his hundred with a boundary off Jake Ball, the 16th of 18 in his innings, early in the evening session.
The draw was confirmed when Ballance (101no) reached his own century with Yorkshire 277-2, chasing a highly improbable 477 for victory.
Root, who gave Yorkshire and England a brief injury scare on Sunday, ended 130 not out having accrued some valuable time in the middle at the start of a huge summer for English cricket, with the World Cup starting next month and the Ashes to follow in August and September.
