Root finally scores an Ashes century for England in Australia and makes it a big one

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — After waiting a dozen years and 15 test matches, Joe Root took a little extra time to savor his first Ashes hundred in Australia.

He took off his batting helmet, kissed the badge and held up his bat to celebrate the milestone in front of a capacity crowd of 37,117 at the Gabba on Day 1 of the second test. The Barmy Army, the Aussies and the neutrals sang his name in unison.

“Even Australians have to admit he is a great now,” former England captain Alastair Cook said on broadcaster TNT Sports.

The English veteran — Root will turn 35 before the year is out — arrived in Australia last month to newspaper headlines describing him as “Average Joe,” deriding the No. 1-ranked test batter for two glaring omissions on his record in the Ashes.

He'd never won a test match in Australia and had never posted a century in an Ashes contest Down Under, despite accumulating 39 elsewhere.

Root finally checked off one of the few milestones missing from his impressive cricket CV with an unbeaten 135 on Thursday.

The drought Down Under that dated to 2013 ended when he reached triple figures under lights in the day-night match at the Gabba, against the pink ball.

“It was a technical masterclass from England’s best player,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said on Australian TV coverage.

Root is on his fourth Ashes tour to Australia, where his previous highest test score was 89.

He scored 0 and 8 in the eight-wicket loss in the series-opener in Perth last month, increasing the pressure on his form.

Root was 88 not out at drinks midway through the night session. He moved into the 90s for the first time in Australia with a boundary off Brendan Doggett. He hit another boundary next ball to go to 96.

With Root on 98, Will Jacks chased a wild shot against Mitchell Starc and was out for 19 to end their 40-run stand. England was 251-7.

Not to be outdone again, Root reached the century with a legside boundary against Scott Boland to his great relief, and to the great relief of his decidedly more nervous teammates.

The England and Wales Cricket Board wrote on X: “No doubt before. No doubt now. A true great of the game.”

It was Root's 40th century in his 160th test. He is already the second highest run-scorer in history — his 13,600-plus test runs are second only to India great Sachin Tendulkar.

Root went to the crease in the third over with England reeling at 5-2 after Starc's opening burst.

After edging Starc through the slips early, Root reached his half-century from 83 deliveries. And, after surviving two reviews by the Australians for lbw, his breakthrough century came off 181 balls.

He shared vital partnerships of 117 with Zac Crawley (76), 54 with Harry Brook (31) and 44 with Ben Stokes. He and No. 11 Jofra Archer shared an unbroken 61-run stand to take England to 325-9 at stumps.

Crawley said Root's knock was flawless.

“It’s a phenomenal knock,” Crawley said. The ball “was doing plenty when he first came in and he was so calm, and he was so clear as well about how he wanted to go about it.

“If you put everything into consideration, yeah, it’s got to be one of his best.”

Starc took six wickets but couldn't claim Root, too.

“I’m sure he’d be relieved to get that 100,” Starc said. “He played fantastically well today and assessed the conditions, sucked up some pressure, and got the result by the end of the day.”

One Australian relieved that Root got triple figures was ex-test opener Matthew Hayden, who'd vowed to do a nude lap around the Melbourne Cricket Ground if the Englishman's drought extended beyond this series.

He sent his congratulations to Root in a video message to England Cricket.

“It took you a while and there was no one that had more skin in the game than me, literally," Hayden, now working as a commentator, said. “I was backing you for a hundred in a good way, so congratulations.”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

England's Joe Root celebrates his century during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

England's Joe Root celebrates his century during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

England's Joe Root celebrates his fifty runs during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

England's Joe Root plays a shot during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

England's Joe Root hits a four during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

England's Joe Root reacts after miss a delivery during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Trump administration is making good on a promise to send more water to California farmers in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday announced a new plan for operating the Central Valley Project, a vast system of pumps, dams and canals that direct water southward from the state’s wetter north. It follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January calling for more water to flow to farmers, arguing the state was wasting the precious resource in the name of protecting endangered fish species.

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said the plan will help the federal government “strengthen California’s water resilience." It takes effect Friday.

But California officials and environmental groups blasted the move, saying sending significantly more water to farmlands could threaten water delivery to the rest of the state and would harm salmon and other fish.

Most of the state’s water is in the north, but most of its people are in the south. The federally-managed Central Valley Project works in tandem with the state-managed State Water Project, which sends water to cities that supply 27 million Californians. The systems transport water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an estuary that provides critical habitat to fish and wildlife including salmon and the delta smelt.

It is important for the two systems to work together, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. She warned the Trump administration’s plan could limit the state's ability to send water to cities and farmers. That is because the state could be required to devote more water to species protection if the federal project sends more to farms.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director at Restore the Delta, said pumping more water out would result in more Delta smelt and juvenile salmon dying from getting stuck in the pumping system, and once the temperature warms, harmful algae blooms will develop that are dangerous to fish, wildlife, pets and people. That could have economic impacts, she said.

“When you destroy water quality and divorce it from land, you are also destroying property values,” she said. “Nobody wants to live near a fetid, polluted backwater swamp.”

The Bureau of Reclamation denied the changes would harm the environment or endangered species.

The Central Valley Project primarily sends water to farms, with a much smaller amount going to cities and industrial use. Water from the Central Valley Project irrigates roughly one-third of California agriculture, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

The Westlands Water District, one of the largest uses of Central Valley Project water, cheered the decision. It “will help ensure that our growers have the water they need to support local communities and the nation’s food supply, while also protecting California’s wildlife,” general manager Allison Febbo said in a statement.

But Vance Staplin, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, said in a statement that protections for salmon are already weak and some runs that rely on the water are close to being wiped out. He called for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom “to file a lawsuit to challenge this unlawful federal move.”

During Trump's first term, he allowed more water to be directed to the Central Valley, a move that Newsom fought in court, saying it would push endangered delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout populations to extinction. The Biden administration changed course, adopting its own water plan in 2024 that environmental groups said was a modest improvement. Newsom did not immediately comment Thursday on the new decision.

Trump renewed his criticism of the state's water policies after the Los Angeles-area fires broke out in January and some fire hydrants ran dry. The Central Valley Project does not supply water to Los Angeles.

The president dubbed his January executive order “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California.”

Golden reported from Seattle.

FILE -A sign reading "Farmland Needs Water!" stands along a field in Riverdale, Calif., Saturday, March 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - An aerial view shows Friant Dam which holds back Millerton Lake in Friant, Calif., Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)