Late wickets hand Australia advantage

A dejected Joe Root, the England captain, agonisingly missed out on a belated maiden Test century in Australia during a dramatic finish to a rain-affected day one of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney on Thursday (January 4).

A determined Root was inching closer to the landmark and propelling his team into a position of strength when he fell for 83 in the first over of the new ball just 10 minutes before stumps. Having hit a couple of boundaries - one glorious straight drive, the other fortuitously through fine-leg - Root flicked Mitchell Starc's swinging delivery into his pads to a diving Mitchell Marsh at square leg.

A disappointed Root slumped to his knees in disbelief at the wicket, which ended a brave 133-run partnership with in-form No.5 Dawid Malan. Compounding the tourists' misery, in the last over before stumps Jonny Bairstow nicked Josh Hazlewood as a slumping England finished at 233 for 5 with Malan unbeaten on a 160-ball 55.

Root, England's best batsman, looked in fine touch but disappointingly has scored four half-centuries this series without posting triple figures. Continuing a bane throughout his stellar career, Root has a poor conversation having made just 13 tons from 49 scores above 50 in his Test career. The 27-year-old has been completely overshadowed by his counterpart Steve Smith, who has scored three defining centuries during a herculean series.

Determined to ensure England salvage something from a wretched tour, a confident Root looked assured and played with purpose to dig his team out of an early hole. Scoring with relative ease against unwavering Australian bowling, Root notched his half-century off 82 balls before the late wicket snuffed his dreams of a century in Australia.

On a surface with a touch of grass - a welcome sight after the eyesore of a flat MCG pitch blighted the fourth Test - Root elected to bat despite ominous bleak clouds above. The first session was washed away due to light persistent rain and when play resumed a returning Starc delivered a searing yorker first up to Alastair Cook but the in-form opener managed to curtail it.

In contrast to his dogged opening partner, Mark Stoneman played his shots from the get-go as the runs flowed but the left-hander's entertaining knock ended when he nicked attempting to fend a short delivery from Pat Cummins, who was the pick of the bowlers with a lionhearted effort.

Against probing bowling from Australia's first-choice pace attack, Cook found the going particularly more difficult than on the lifeless MCG pitch last week. After spending the entirety of the fourth Test on the ground, Cook continued to relentlessly stonewall in what shaped as another indefatigable occupancy of the crease. He scored just four runs off his first 38 balls before finding his range, including two successive boundaries off cut shots from Nathan Lyon's bowling to punctuate a solid opening two hours for the visitors hoping to continue saving face after relinquishing the Ashes.

James Vince, England's maligned No.3, started slowly but opened up with trademark flowing shots around the wicket as he sensed a golden opportunity to finally break through for a maiden Test century. However, once again, a teasing Vince (25 from 34 balls) fell just when he looked the goods as he ungainly nicked a wide Cummins delivery to wicketkeeper Tim Paine.

Australia finally got through the stout bat of Cook (39 off 104) when Hazlewood trapped him in front after a successful review as England slumped to a shaky 95 for 3. The former England captain fell just five short of becoming the fifth player to make 12,000 Test runs.

Having recovered quickly from a bruised heel which kept him out of the Boxing Day Test, Starc struggled to reach 140kmh but bowled accurately after the tea break as runs were hard to muster for Root and Malan.

Australia's seamers attempted to strangle the set batsmen but the sun finally shone in the final session as the pitch flattened much to the liking of Root and Malan. The pair built a solid partnership but Malan had some good fortune when he survived a run out chance in a disastrous mix-up with his skipper. The pair were together at the striker's end but Mitchell Marsh threw to the wrong end allowing Malan to scamper through for the single.

Moments later Malan was dropped by Steve Smith in a low chance off Nathan Lyon in a double reprieve for the left-hander. Remarkably, for such an assured fielder, the blunder was Smith's third consecutive dropped catch after a subpar performance in Melbourne.

On another flat pitch, Australia's attack welcomed the sizeable presence of Starc but it was tough going against an England batting order finally finding their feet albeit too late to save the Ashes. However, they rebounded with the new ball to ensure the hosts are slightly ahead after day one.

Undoubtedly, England need to rebound and post a formidable total to ensure they are a chance for a consolation victory.

Brief scores: England 233/5 (Joe Root 83, Dawid Malan 55*; Pat Cummins 2-44) vs Australia.