A century from England's most prolific Test run-maker of all time, Joe Root, has handed the tourists the upper hand heading into the third day of the Sydney Test as Australia dropped two wickets.
Scoring his second century during the 2025/26 Ashes Series and his first-ever at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Root produced a glorious 160 runs off 242 deliveries as England scored a total of 384 in their opening innings.
Moving within 2000 runs of Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in Test cricket, the Yorkshire-born batter took apart the Australian bowling attack, who decided against using a spinner.
Opening the day with a boundary, Root looked at home on the pitch, scoring runs in every area of the ground, particularly with strokes square of the wicket and on the off-side.
After putting on a 154-run stand on the opening day of the 5th Ashes Test, it looked like Joe Root and Harry Brook were going to continue their partnership well into the second day.
However, while Root would have been happy with his batting innings, the same can't be said for Brook.
Within the opening 30 minutes, Brook (84) found himself walking back to the pavilion, 16 runs shy of his maiden Ashes century after nicking one to Alex Carey off the bowling of Scott Boland.
Minutes later, Mitchell Starc claimed the wicket of Ben Stokes (0) for the 14th time in his career, putting England to disarray.
But Joe Root remained calm at the crease amid the chaos.
The best English player of the series, the batsman moved one step closer to the record books and equalled Ricky Ponting's tally of 41 career centuries as Jamie Smith and Will Jacks played valuable roles alongside him.
Following the dismissal of Brook, wicket-keeper Jamie Smith was able to create another strong partnership with Root, but found himself departing before lunch.
Granted multiple lives, Smith (46) eventually found himself caught on the boundary by Scott Boland off Marnus Labuschagne in what many described as one of the worst batting shots of the 2025/26 Ashes Series.
This came after he was dropped by Beau Webster and also given out before the third umpire U-turned the decision due to a no-ball by Cameron Green.
Will Jacks (27) also had a handy cameo near the end of the innings but found his wicket taken by Michael Neser, who ended with 4/60.
Down by 384, it didn't take long for Travis Head to light up the SCG in style with his famed 'TravBall'.
The best performing batter of the 2025/26 Ashes Series, Head notched up an unbeaten 91 runs to end the day's play, which included 15 boundaries, but Australia unfortunately lost the wickets of Jake Weatherald (21) and Marnus Labuschagne (48).
Both dismissed by Ben Stokes, the duo failed to kick on after a bright start and will need to deliver in the second innings if they are to stay away from the scrutiny of a having a poor campaign.
