England lost the first three matches. England fight for their existence in the last 2 matches. England were bowling very well. Gut Atkinson gave the first blow to Australia, taking Head’s wicket. Josh Tongue did not take much time to remove Jake Weatherald and didn’t let Labuschagne settle. 

Josh Tongue is a genuine wicket-taker bowler; he showed that in India’s series also. Josh Tongue clean bowled to Steve Smith. Khawaja scored 29 runs but got caught behind on Gut Atkinson’s ball. Stokes showed a master stroke. Stoke set a fielder at leg slip and bowled down the leg, and Alex Careywas caught by that fielder.

Green played with a soft hand and wanted to steal a run, but Brydon Carse’s direct throw took his wicket. Brydon Carse took the wicket of Mitchell Starc. Josh Tongue bowled Michael Neser just like Steve Smith and took Boland’s wicket on the next ball. Australia got all out on 152 runs.

Ben Duckett got out to Mitchell Starc. Bethell didn’t had clue about Michael Neser’s bowl. Bethell got caught behind. Mitchell Starc got Crawley’s wicket. Root struggled with every ball he played and was out on a duck after playing 19 balls. 

Harry Brook started a counterattack on the bowler, but got LBW on Boland’s ball. Harry Brook scored 41 runs. Will Jacks and Jamie Smith out by Boland. Gus Atkinson scored 28 runs. England got all out on 110 runs.  Once again, England had been struggling.

England batted first but got into trouble early. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett both got out for low scores, and England were 5/2. Joe Root was the only batter who looked comfortable. Root played one of his best overseas innings, scoring 138 runs*. Harry Brook added 31 runs, Stokes scored 32, and Woakes contributed 24. England were bowled out for 334 runs.

Australia’s reply was strong. Their top order all chipped in with runs. Weatherald scored 72, Labuschagne scored 65, and Steve Smith added 61. Australia finished their first innings at 511, taking a big lead of 177 runs.

England needed a big fightback in the second innings, but the same problems continued. Wickets kept falling again. Will Jacks and Ben Stokes tried to steady things and built a partnership of 96 runs. Stokes scored 50, and Jacks added 48. But after losing their wickets, England collapsed again and were bowled out for 241.

Michael Neser was the standout bowler for Australia. He took 5 wickets, breaking England’s resistance. England’s batting crumbled under pressure and failed to set a challenging target.

Australia needed only 65 runs to win. They lost Travis Head and Labuschagne early, but Weatherald and Steve Smith finished the chase calmly. Smith hit the winning runs with a six. Australia won by 8 wickets and fully dominated the match in all departments.

England now trails the series 2–0 and needs a big turnaround to stay alive in the Ashes.

For Root, this hundred was special, as he had played 16 Tests in Australia but never scored a century. His previous best score was 89. This innings ended a long wait and reminded everyone why Joe Root is considered one of the best Test batsmen of this generation.

This century, Joe Root became the 40th Test player to reach 40 Test hundreds, putting him among the top players in the history of the game.

Comparison with Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is still far ahead in Test records. He has 51 Test centuries and 15,921 runs, the most by any player. Root, with around 13,600+ runs and 40 centuries, is slowly moving closer, but Sachin’s records are still very tough to break. Sachin also played 200 Tests, while Root has played about 160 so far.

Still, Root’s consistency in the last few years shows that he might come close to Sachin’s run tally if he continues playing at this level for a few more years.