
Record-breaker Mitch Starc has underlined his status as the pink-ball master, but not even he could neutralise Joe Root and an improved England on a see-sawing first day of the second Ashes Test.
After England won the toss at the Gabba on Thursday, Root scored an unbeaten 135, breaking through for a long-awaited first century in Australia to dismiss speculation of a second straight bloodbath to begin the Ashes.