'He played the innings of his life...': Ex-England captain hails Joe Root for ending century drought in Australia

Former England captain Michael Atherton was all praise for Joe Root as he finally put an end to his long century drought in Australia during the second Ashes Test. Root went on to bring up his first Test hundred Down Under during the first day of the Brisbane Test. After the Three Lions had made a horrific start and had lost both Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks, it was the duo of Root and Crawley that stabilized the innings with their 117-run stand. While wickets kept on falling at the other end, Root kept the scoreboartd ticking from the other end.

He eventually went on to reach his hundred during the final session and played a massive role in England crossing the 300-run mark on the opening day. Atherton highlighted how Root walked in to bat in a pressure situation as the side were already down to 5/2 and labelled the knock as "the innings of his life".

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“It’s been a long time coming What matters to him more than anything is scoring crucial runs at a critical time. He was in for the 16th ball of the innings at 5 for 2, so it could have gone horribly wrong,” Atherton said on Sky Sports.

“With Mitchell Starc knocking back Duckett and Pope for ducks, all those memories of Perth flooding back, but then England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life — because everything is on the line here,” he added.

Root finally ends long wait

This was a much-needed century as not only had it been a long time coming, but also because he had faced a lot of scrutiny after his disappointing performance in the first Ashes Test. Though it did takke him 30 innings to finally score a Test hundred in Australia, it couldn't have come at a better time for England as without his knock, they would have barely scraped past the 200-run mark.

Root and Archer frustrate the Aussies

Root finished off the first day unbeaten on 135 with Jofra Archer also unbeaten on 32. The duo formed a valuable 61-run partnership for the final wicket and helped England cross the 300-run mark. They wrapped up the day on 325/9 and it now remains to be seen as to how far will they manage to take their total.