Root reaches a milestone and the latest starting Test match in England... ASHES TALKING POINTS

SAM MORSHEAD AT THE OVAL: In hitting the milestone, England's captain also surpassed the great Don Bradman on the elite runscorers' list

Burns versus the short ball

Rory Burns has had a good summer. The Surrey opener muscled past a miserable pair of sixes against Ireland to imprint himself on the England teamsheet over the course of this Ashes campaign.

It has not been pretty, it has rarely been fluent, but it has been obdurate, obstinate and, most pleasing of all, resolute. He has stuck it out when things have got tough, riding his luck for as far as it would carry him, and shown more than enough mental toughness to suggest he belongs in this side long-term. He did it again on Thursday, in perhaps his most fluent knock of the series, leaving well and producing one or two terrific on drives.

That he will now be regarded by most as the third instant batting pick for New Zealand - in the event of England taking a full-strength red-ball team - is both a reflection of his teammates' struggles but also his own performances.

However, he remains far from the finished product, and one telling stat from this series highlights a particular area which Burns will need to look to improve if he is going to be a mainstay in the England team for years to come.

Once again at The Oval, the opener was dismissed by a short delivery, the ball from Josh Hazlewood hurrying him a little, striking the splice and looping up to midwicket.

He has now been dismissed by short-of-a-length fare seven out of eight times in this Ashes campaign. Everyone has their weak spot, this appears to be Burns, and ahead of a winter locking horns with Neil Wagner, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Co, it is certainly worth an extra session or two in the nets.

Late starters

A fascinating statistic did the rounds on social media on day one at The Oval.

Never before had a Test match in England begun so late in the year as September 12.

The previous latest came in the Ashes series of 2005, again at The Oval, when England and Australia took to the field for day one on September 8.

^{Rory Burns will need to rectify his struggles against the short-of-a-length ball}

A modest record

It really isn't easy opening the batting in England.

The first-wicket stand of 27 between Joe Denly and Rory Burns on Thursday morning was the highest achieved by any opening pair for either side in this series.

Meanwhile, the top stand for the first wicket by any side in international red-ball cricket on these shores this summer is the 32 put on by William Porterfield and James McCollum for Ireland at Lord's in July.

There has not been a century partnership at the top of any team's order in Tests played in England since 2016, when Sir Alastair Cook and Alex Hales put on 126 against Pakistan, and there have been just seven since 2013.

This summer has not been an anomaly. In fact, it appears to be the status quo, especially for the home side.

Interestingly, of the 12 century partnerships for the first wicket in Tests in England and Wales over the course of the past decade, 75 per cent have been scored by touring batsmen.

Root's milestone

Having been dropped three times, Joe Root reached a major batting landmark when moving onto 35 just after lunch.

The England captain passed 7,000 runs in Test cricket - the 48th man, and 12th Englishman, to do so and the third youngest, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Alastair Cook.

In terms of number of innings taken to hit 7,000, Root is the fourth quickest among English batsmen (158 innings). Only Wally Hammond, Kevin Pietersen and Cook have got there sooner.

In hitting the milestone, he also surpassed the great Don Bradman on the elite runscorers' list. Next in his sights is the soon-to-be knighted Andrew Strauss, on 7,037.

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Over and out

Australia managed 52 overs in the first two sessions of this Test match.

Fifty-two overs, spread across four hours, without even the slightest hint of an interruption.

There was one referral to DRS, no pauses for trips to the third umpire for any other reason, no need to change the ball, no reason to call on the medical staff, no changes of gloves. The weather was set fair, England were not scoring particularly quickly, nor hitting the boundary all that regularly, Tim Paine was not forced into dozens of field changes.

And still, 52 overs in four hours. By the end of the day, Australia had managed eight fewer than the allocation, despite being given an extra half-hour.

Does it matter all that much? It's been said that journalists care more about this topic than many fee-paying fans - and it would certainly be remiss to suggest that everyone who attends Test cricket is bothered by quotas failing to be fulfilled time and time again - but if there are going to be terms of sale on tickets which relate to the successful completion of overs, it is surely a valid and pressing point.

Fans buy tickets based on the notion of 90 overs per day. They know they are already risking deluges after 20 or 25 have been bowled, ruling out even a partial refund. They accept the hiked prices of food and drink. They put up with queues, and occasionally zealous stewards.

They have earned, and paid for, a little extra respect.

Yes, it is true that good cricket does not have to be fast cricket - the pulsating second Test at Lord's was a prime example of sporting theatre played out in short chapters with long intermissions - but good cricket equally does not have to be slow. And at times on Thursday is was so slow that it felt as if we were watching the match frame by frustrating frame.