Joe Root’s innings was a dance of elegant mayhem causing panic among the Aussies

As Joe Root waited for the first ball of the day from Australian captain Pat Cummins, England were under pressure. They were 28 for 2 at the start of their second innings, danger was all around and the Australians smelled blood.

In normal times, which respected age-old conventions and conformed to national stereotypes, England would have dug in. They would have opted for austerity. No risks. They would have done the cricket equivalent of covering the ropes and probably would have collapsed.

We are connoisseurs of the collapse in England and this felt ripe for one.

But this is a team from England who have wrapped themselves in the beautiful embrace of a kind of chaos theory.

Root didn’t play it safe. Cummins speared the ball down outside his stump, but Root didn’t let it lie, jab at it, or play a forward defense.

Root’s bravery showed England’s intent and created panic among the Australian team

Root way a joy to watch. He was Geoff Boycott and Jos Buttler wrapped in one dance of elegant chaos

No, Joe Root, England’s great classicist, one of the greatest Test batsmen of all time, shrewdly stepped left and tried to lift Cummins’ first ball over the slip cordon with a reverse scoop shot. He missed, but it hardly seemed to matter. It was the intent that mattered.

At the top of the commentary box, former England bowler Phil Tufnell nearly fell off his chair. “I think I’m getting too old for this game,” he said.

Others said Root would have looked pretty crazy if Cummins had knocked out his center stump. Root’s next shot was a forward defense. The crowd cheered.

The feeling of the great old game of Test cricket being turned upside down accelerated when Root faced Scott Boland. The former England captain sent the second ball from the over to the boundary with an elegant, beautifully timed clip through midwicket.

The third ball was bowled to the new Root. Smartly stepping to the left again, he lifted Boland’s throw high over the cordon with another inverted shovel sailing over the ropes at the third man for six.

Root gave the next ball a similar treatment and scooped it over the slips again. It was shallower this time and it bounced off for four.

The tactic had worked. The courage had worked. Australia took Cameron Green, one of their best slip fielders, out of the cordon and moved him to third man.

And so, almost before anyone realized it, all thoughts of crisis were over. That fear of a collapse had died down. In no time England had posted 50 for the third wicket and momentum had shifted.

Despite the criticism that may come as he is stunned for the first time in his Test career, Root’s innings was a mesmerizing cameo and could be the one to win England the match.

After Root’s early intent, Australia were not the same aggressive side that started the day

This was again Bazball in microcosm. “Let’s see England play when they’re under the pump,” the doubters and many Australian media outlets had said. Well England were under the pump and they were still playing their shots. They cannot be turned.

Instead of thinking they had England on the run, Australian minds turned to the total they were amassing.

They knew that if England got to 250 it would be a tough chase for them. Their aggression ebbed away. They slipped back into the conservatism that Britain has left behind.

Root was a joy to watch. He was an enchanting hybrid of traditional wit and innovative genius. He was Geoff Boycott and Jos Buttler wrapped in one dance of elegant chaos. Some still see this transformation of English cricket as sacrilege in one way or another. They don’t trust it. They think it will explode in England’s face. But that’s to misunderstand the concept.

This is about entertainment as well as winning. It’s about keeping Test Cricket alive.

And if you’d been in Edgbaston on Monday or watching television, how could you not be tempted by Root’s cameo? It was great entertainment, sport at its best, daring, risky, brilliant and, yes, fun. In another Boland over, Root played a stunning drive through the covers for four and then danced down the wicket to hit him half way to the boundary. Leaning back, he hit another drive off his back foot behind point and a four off his back leg square to take him to the 40s.

Pat Cummins retreated to defensive tactics thanks to the elegant chaos of Root’s knock

If Joe Root makes Ben Stokes (pictured) look dull, who can blame Australia for appearing a little baffled at times?

His innings ended on 46 when he stormed the wicket to Nathan Lyon and tried to get him over half way through. He swung and missed and wicketkeeper Alex Carey knocked the bail off. It was the first time Root had been stunned in his testing career. Naturally, when Root succumbed and Ben Stokes walked to the crease, some shook their heads and said it was different for Root to be fired that way.

It’s the same people who say the glass is half empty. It was only a cameo, but it was a mesmerizing cameo and it could prove to be the innings that won the game.

It almost spread panic among the Australians. They weren’t the same team after Root’s knock. They became so desperate to stop England’s runs that their appeals to the umpire took on a frenetic, haphazard, random air. Their desperation was mocked mercilessly by the Hollies Stand.

It’s already been an engaging, exhilarating roller coaster of a test match. It has been Test cricket as a glorious amalgam of T20, one-day internationals and the five-day match. It’s been the best of all. It felt like a reawakening to a format that has been concerned about its relevance for almost as long as any of us can remember.

No one can predict how the first Test will end, let alone this Ashes series, and if it were an exaggeration to say it doesn’t matter who wins it, it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve seen four days of sport. theater that has made Test Cricket more enticing than ever.

If Joe Root makes Ben Stokes look boring, who can blame Australia for appearing a little baffled at times?