JOE ROOT led the counter-attack as his and Gary Ballance’s unbroken century stand bailed England out on day one of the Ashes in Cardiff yesterday, before being caught out for 134.

The Yorkshire pair joined forces at a perilous 43 for three, after Alastair Cook had chosen to bat first on a cloudy morning, but by tea had guided the hosts to a heartening 190 without further loss.

Root was the driving force, having survived nervous initial moments against his former county team-mate Mitchell Starc, as conditions then began to ease under increasingly sunnier skies.

He was putting behind him a rare double failure in England’s last Test, on his home ground against New Zealand at Leeds, reprising a previous sequence of 11 half-centuries in 18 Test innings.

This time, on his return to the Ashes fray after being dropped for the final Test of England’s 5-0 trouncing in 2013-14, Root raced past his 100 in just 118 balls.