SYDNEY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - England enjoyed one of their better days of the Ashes series on Sunday when a 154-run stand between Joe Root and Harry Brook drove them to 211 for three before the opening day of the fifth test was brought to a premature end at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Play was stopped for bad light 20 minutes before tea with storm clouds threatening, and abandoned to boos from the remnants of the 49,574 crowd some 90 minutes before the scheduled close of play.
At 3-1 down in what has been a mostly miserable series for the tourists, nothing England can do will prevent Australia from lifting the urn in triumph at the end of the series.
The sight of their two best batsmen finally combining for a meaningful contribution, however, would have brought a smile to the face of skipper Ben Stokes as well as the loyal battalion of travelling supporters.
After slumping to 57-3 early on, fears of another green pitch reprising the chaos of England's consolation win inside two days in Melbourne last week were assuaged when Root and Brook came together in the middle.
Root brought up the 100 partnership and his 67th test half century with the same stroke to deep backward point before Brook joined him on the 50-mark with a four through the covers a few balls later.
Brook, who had given fans a few reminders of his sometimes rash shot-choices, was 78 not out and Root unbeaten on 72 when they were called off for light.
"We're in very good position, obviously, three down at the end of play and hopefully we can make the most of that going into tomorrow," Brook told reporters after accumulating his highest score of the series.
"It was a good pitch. When I first went in, it felt like the bounce was fairly steep, but then it started to get a little bit lower and slower and it just generally feels like a good wicket out there."
DIMINISHING RESULTS
Stokes earlier won the toss and elected to bat first with both teams deciding, after a week of debate, against bringing in a specialist spinner at a ground once considered Australia's most spin-friendly Ashes venue.
"It's history, it's a long time ago," said Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori.
"I think you've seen over the last three years has been diminishing results for spin bowlers here, which is obviously not something that we'd like, but it's the nature of the surface."
At first, the day followed the script of much of the rest of the series with Ben Duckett making a decent start with 27 off 24 balls before edging a Mitchell Starc outswinger behind to give the left-arm quick his 27th wicket of the series.
England's other opener, Zak Crawley, survived an early scare with an edge through the slips only to be trapped in front by Michael Neser after eking out 16.
Jacob Bethell followed shortly afterwards, edging a Scott Boland delivery behind for 10, to bring Root and Brook together.
The match was preceded by a ceremony honouring first responders and "community members who acted bravely" during the attack by gunmen which killed 15 people at a Jewish event at nearby Bondi Beach on December 14.
The unusually high level of security for the match was evident outside the ground with riot police observing the crowd as they entered the venue.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
