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England star batter Joe Root scored his first Test century in Australia as the visitors went past 300 runs on the opening day of the second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday. At the end of Day 1 England stood at 325 for 9 in 74 overs. Root was unbeaten on 135 from 202 balls hitting 15 fours and a six while Jofra Archer was not out on 32 from 26 balls including one four and two sixes. England began the last session at 196 for 4 with Root on 68 and captain Ben Stokes on 14. They crossed 200 when Stokes drove Mitchell Starc to the boundary early in the 50th over. Australia reviewed an LBW shout against Root in the 52nd over but replays showed the impact was outside off stump so he stayed on. Soon after Josh Inglis pulled off a direct hit to dismiss Stokes for 19 off 49 balls. In the following over Starc bowled Jamie Smith for a duck. Root then hit three boundaries in Brendan Doggett’s 62nd over moving into the 90s. Starc picked up his fourth wicket by getting Will Jacks out for 19 in the 65th over. In the next over Root reached his first hundred in Australia taking 181 balls to get there. It was his 40th Test ton and came after 30 innings in the country. Root became only the second England player after Maurice Leyland to score a century on the first day of a Gabba Test and just the eighth England batter to make a hundred at the venue. Starc later claimed his fifth wicket by dismissing Gus Atkinson for 4 giving him his 18th five-wicket haul in Tests and his second of the series. After that Root and Archer went on the attack. They smashed 19 runs off Scott Boland and then 15 off Starc helping England move past 300. Root even played a reverse scoop for six off Boland as runs began to flow quickly. The pair added an unbeaten 61 for the last wicket giving England the upper hand at stumps. Their partnership is now the highest 10th-wicket stand in a day-night Test beating the 59-run effort by Tom Blundell and Blair Tickner in 2023. Earlier in the day England recovered well after Zak Crawley and Root steadied the innings with a 93-run stand. This came after Starc removed Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope cheaply in the second match of the five-game Ashes series. England were 98 for 2 at lunch with Crawley on 61 not out and Root on 32 not out. Brief score: England 196/4 (Zak Crawley 76 Joe Root 135* Mitchell Starc 6/71) vs Australia.