Joe Root warns Australia more Ashes hundreds to come
Wednesday 8 July 2015 22:08, UK
Joe Root set his sights on punishing Australia all series after his counter-attacking ton got England out of a hole on the first day of The Investec Ashes.
Root came to the crease with his side 43-3 and was given a life when he was dropped second-ball by Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
The Yorkshireman took full advantage, scoring the fastest hundred in the first innings of an Ashes series and the sixth-quickest by an Englishman in Tests against Australia.
It took Root 118 balls to bring up a seventh Test century, and he was eventually fifth man out as the home side closed an eventful day in Cardiff on 343-7.
Afterwards he told Sky Sports: "It's always nice to get a hundred against Australia, and hopefully it's the first of a few and not just a one-off.
"Attacking is becoming a bit more natural to me now, but more than anything when they attack it's the best time to attack them: that's when there are gaps, when they have guys in catching positions and it's easier to score quickly.
"It's not going to work every time, fortunately it did today."
Root would not have had the chance to attack had Haddin taken a reasonably straightforward caught-behind chance off Mitchell Starc - not that the England batsman was aware he was in trouble.
"I didn't think I hit it," he said. "I thought I hit the floor so I was getting ready to review it, which would have been a bit of a mess. Anyone's vulnerable first-up in an innings, fortunately I managed to sort it out quite quickly."
I didn't think I hit it. I thought I hit the floor so I was getting ready to review it, which would have been a bit of a mess.
England will resume in the morning with Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad in the middle on a pitch which largely played slow but showed signs of erratic bounce.
"It was a little slow," Root said. "To see the first few not carry was a bit of a worry, but then you saw Brad Haddin take a few miles above his head.
"There's a little bit there - a few indentations which could be helpful with the new ball, and it's obviously quite dry so it will potentially spin as well.
"The longer we can keep them out there the better. You've seen from Moeen and Broady they're both capable of scoring big scores - fingers crossed tomorrow can be one of those days and we get 400-plus."
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