UK View: Poms purr over ‘dot ball of the century’, but there’s an elephant in the room as Test reaches climax

The English media’s fascination with Bazball continues to rage unabated, but there’s a worrying concern in their ranks as the first Test reaches a thrilling conclusion on Tuesday.

It wasn’t just former England player Kevin Pietersen fawning over the innings of Joe Root (45) that helped England set up a fourth innings target of 281 that the Aussies will attempt to run down.

While Pietersen swooned like a love sick teen in the commentary box – seek out Ricky Ponting’s brutal put down of KP’s blatherings on our site – the UK press pack also waxed lyrical.

In a series where the weird tactical gambits of Ben Stokes have taken centre stage it will come as absolutely no surprise that the Poms’ favourite shot of the day was actually one where Root played and missed.

“When Joe Root tried to reverse-ramp the first ball of day four, delivered at appreciable pace by Australia’s captain Pat Cummins, it was the dot-ball of the century,” aggrandised Scyld Berry in the Telegraph.