Australia vs England, 1st Ashes Test, Day 3 Stats Review: Joe Root shatters a flurry of records with fighting fifty

England Skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan shared an unbeaten 159 run third-wicket stand as both struck half-centuries making Australia struggle for their wickets on Day 3 of the Ashes opener. Captain Joe Root, who is having a dream run in Tests this year, continued his solid form by scoring his eighth 50-plus score in 2021, which is the most by any batter. He was well supported by England’s T20I specialist Dawid Malan who recorded his second-best score in Tests. Earlier in the day, Travis Head got out on a magnificent 152 as the hosts got all out for 425, taking a massive 278-run lead.

Rory Burns suffered another failure in this match as he scored just 13 with his opening partner Haseeb Hameed scoring 27 runs. From there on, it was all about the Root and Malan show. The duo shared 159 runs and remained not out at stump’s, forcing the Test to get evenly balanced. Root brought up his second-best score in Australia while Malan achieved his second-best score in Tests. Nathan Lyon, sitting on 399 Test scalps has to wait for more for his milestone as well settled England duo would be eyeing their personal landmarks by scoring tons and also taking England in a good position on day four.

With Root doing Root things and aggressive Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes still to follow, England will try to cut the deficit of 58 runs firstly and then look to set a challenging target for the hosts. On the other hand, the hosts would want to take the wickets of both Root and Malan early and try to stop the British team to post a big target for them on Day 4.

Meanwhile, here are the important stats and numbers from Australia vs England, 1st Ashes Test day three:

152 – Travis Head achieved his second-highest score in Tests. His highest is 161, which he scored against Sri Lanka in 2019.

6 – Travis Head recorded sixth-highest score by a batter at no. five in Tests in Brisbane.

6 – Travis Head’s score of 152 is also sixth highest for Australia against England at no. five in Australia.

5 – With 29 wickets, Jack Leach is the fifth spinner with most wickets in 2021.

1 – Travis Head recorded the highest score for Australia in Tests in 2021.

3 – 152 by Travis Head is the third-highest score against England in Tests this year. Devon Conway’200 and Rohit Sharma’s 161 are in the top two.

1541 – Joe Root has now scored most runs for England in Tests in a calendar year. He surpassed Michael Vaughan’s tally of 1481 runs, which he scored in the year 2002.

1541 – Joe Root now has the fourth highest runs by a captain in a calendar year.

8 – Joe Root became the eighth player to score over 1500 runs in Test history in a calendar year.

8 – Joe Root  now has eight 50-plus Test scores in 2021, the highest by any batter.

4 – Joe Root also became the fourth captain to score over 1500 Test runs in a calendar year.

159* – Dawid Malan and Joe Root recorded second highest 3rdwicket partnership for England at Brisbane. Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe shared 160 runs stand in 1994.

80* – Dawid Malan brought up his second-best score in Tests.

86* – Joe Root also scored his second-highest score in Australia.

1541 – England captain Root’s runs this year. It is the most by any batter and also the only batter to score over 1000 runs in 2021.