Ashes: Root, Malan Stabilise Sinking English Ship

England’s skipper Joe Root set a record for most runs in a calendar year by an English batsman as he shared a 159-run partnership with Dawid Malan on Friday to lead a rally in the Ashes series opener against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane.

Root (86*) and Malan was (80*)as England reached 220-2 at stumps on Day 3. Root has 1,541 runs so far in 2021, beating Michael Vaughan’s record of 1,481 runs in 2002. Mohammad Yousuf holds the test record with his 1,788 runs in 11 matches for Pakistan in 2006. The English skipper could break the record of most runs by a single player as there are two matches still to be played. 

 After being dismissed for 147 on Day 1 and conceding a 278-run first-innings deficit, the third-wicket partnership finally gave England a session of dominance. England is still 58 runs behind. Haseeb Hammed and Rory Burns failed to give the English team a good start as Hammed scored 27 and Burns scored 13. 

After the day ended Malan said “We were staring down the barrel a bit after the first day and the way they batted was superb. So to get us into this position today has been fantastic, it gives us a little bit of hope that if we can bat through tomorrow we can post a score (then) we can potentially bowl them out.”  With two days still left to play the match is headed to an interesting finish. The Aussies still have the upper hand over the English side