The China Mail - Root edges closer to elusive ton as England reach 196-4

After captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat, the visitors made it to the second break with Root not-out 68 and Stokes alongside him on 14.

As Root closed in on a long-awaited milestone, England's tormentor-in-chief Mitchell Starc celebrated one of his own.

Starc took three scalps in the first two sessions with the pink ball to move to 415 wickets in Test cricket, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram as the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history.

Starc had earlier reduced a shell-shocked England to 5-2 in the third over, but a 117-run partnership between Root and Zak Crawley (76) stabilised the visitors.

Root has scored 890 runs in 14 Tests in Australia at an average of 35.68, but he has never reached triple figures.

He looked calm and composed in the first two sessions and is now just 32 runs shy of the elusive mark.

Both teams wore black armbands in memory of former England batsman Robin Smith, who died unexpectedly this week.

Australia, who won the opening Test inside two days in Perth, went into this match without regular skipper Pat Cummins.

He had been rumoured to be making an early return from a back injury, but instead the hosts sprung a major surprise by leaving out off-spinner Nathan Lyon for seamer Michael Neser.

It was the first time in almost 14 years that Australia played a Test at home without a frontline spinner.

Early on it seemed England's batsmen had learned nothing from their dismissals in Perth as Starc, swinging the new pink ball, struck twice in his first two overs.

Ben Duckett was first to go on the last ball of Starc's first over, nicking a full ball to Marnus Labuschagne at first slip for a golden duck.

England were rocked in Starc's next over, Ollie Pope chopping on a wide delivery to leave England rocking.

But Crawley and Root survived a torrid examination from the Australian attack and began to take advantage as the wicket flattened.

The pair continued in a positive vein after tea, taking the score to 122 before Crawley got an underedge to Neser and was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey.

Harry Brook (31) joined Root at the crease and continued to push the scoring rate along against an Australian attack that looked short of ideas, resorting to short balls down the leg side.

Root brought up his half-century off 83 balls, shortly after England had reached 150.

Australia captain Steve Smith brought Starc back into the attack with immediate dividends as he drew a thick edge from Brook, with Smith taking the catch at second slip to leave England 176-4.

Stokes and Root navigated a tricky period as the sun set and the floodlights began to take effect.

P.Deng--ThChM