THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT

Root's imperious ton, Stokes' bold declaration and some excitable Bazball dismissals in front of a raucous Birmingham crowd added up to an opening day Ashes cracker

-  DEAN WILSON

JOE ROOT held England's excitable Bazballers together like a master of his art with his 30th Test ton at the start of the Ashes.

And moments after one former skipper gave the crowd their voice in celebration, the declaration whisperer Ben Stokes pulled the pin and sent the Australia openers in to bat for a 20-minute examination at the end of the day.

No other England, or Australia captain for that matter, would have voluntarily ended their innings on day one of the series after winning the toss, but this is the game as Stokes sees it and it often works.

Throughout the build-up there has been reference to 2005 when England racked up 407 all out in 79.2 overs.

This time they made 393-8 declared in 78, so we are bang on course.

And for the thousands of fans lucky enough to have the golden ticket to the ground, every one of them remained glued to their seat hoping to see Stuart Broad knock over David Warner.