Australia 20 for 0 trail England 393 for 8 dec (Root 118*, Bairstow 78, Crawley 61, Lyon 4-149) by 373 runs

England had made clear that they would not change the approach that has brought them so much success in the last 12 months and hurtled towards 400 while scoring at five runs per over, looting 45 boundaries and playing out only two maidens all day.

He brought up his hundred in 145 balls, clipping Nathan Lyon off his pads, then twice charged down to hit him back over his head for six in Lyon's next over. With the second new ball approaching, Ben Stokes had seen enough and called his batters in to leave David Warner and Usman Khawaja 20 minutes to survive until the close.

The Edgbaston crowd, who made themselves known to Australia's boundary-riders throughout an unbridled opening day, became part of the theatre, teeing up Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson as they bounded in with the new ball. But both openers survived with few scares and will come back on Saturday hoping to set Australia on their way to a lead on a flat, slow pitch.

It had long been clear that this Ashes would be played at a different tempo to any other, and the first ball of the series only served to reinforce that. Eighteen months ago in Brisbane, Mitchell Starc's dismissal of Rory Burns set the tone for a tour defined by England's dismal performances; here, Crawley crunched Cummins through the off side on the up.

Cummins posted a deep backward point from the start, pre-empting England's aggression and by the third over had three men on the rope. Their value was shown in the fourth: Ben Duckett only half-committed to a cut shot, with deep backward point nullifying his opportunity for a boundary, and edged Josh Hazlewood through to Alex Carey.

Hazlewood's inclusion for his first Test since January came as a surprise, with Mitchell Starc making way after playing in the World Test Championship final at The Oval last week. But he was the pick of Australia's attack, finding some bounce on an unreceptive surface and finishing the day as their most economical bowler - even if he conceded more than four runs per over.

Lyon came on early, introduced in the 10th over as though Cummins was dangling a carrot. He started with four men out, but Crawley was in no mood to milk singles, and thrashed the final ball of his first over for four through the covers. By drinks, he had lashed Scott Boland for two further boundaries.

"Another 30 for Zak!" taunted an Australian fielder, picked up by the stump microphone, and Crawley's innings should have ended before he had reached a half-century. He stepped across to the off side looking to whip Boland into the Eric Hollies Stand at midwicket and edged a lifter through to Alex Carey - but Australia did not appeal.

He brought up his half-century off 56 balls, but had lost his partner just before. Ollie Pope, who settled into his innings after a frenetic start, lofted Lyon over mid-off but was trapped on the knee roll as he looked to whip across the line. Umpire Ahsan Raza initially gave him not out but ball-tracking confirmed the ball had pitched in line with leg stump.

England ticked over throughout the session, taking an unprecedented 54 singles before lunch - yet Australia's defensive fields were vindicated by three wickets in the first session, Crawley falling in the final over of the morning. He gloved behind as Boland found some extra bounce from a length, Australia successfully reviewing the on-field decision.

Harry Brook, facing Australia for the first time in his career, counter-punched in the afternoon, lofting Lyon over cover from the eighth ball he faced. He cut and drove Boland for two boundaries in three balls, but nearly fell in the same over: he top-edged a short, wide ball which Travis Head initially failed to pick up at deep point, then dropped as he scampered in and dived forwards.

England then lost two wickets in nine balls, leaving them 176 for 5. Brook's dismissal was a freak: he shouldered arms to Lyon and the ball ballooned up off his thigh pad to a cry of "catch it"; Carey tried to but watched it land inside the crease and spin sharply back into middle stump. He caught the next one that came his way, an outside edge from Stokes as Hazlewood angled one across him.

Root was given out on 61 but successfully overturned the lbw decision on review, having gloved the ball into his pad. It was the second of three successive reverse-sweeps he played off Lyon; the other two flew to the boundary.

Bairstow played aggressor after tea as the partnership swelled past 100, but his dismissal for a run-a-ball 78 preceded a frantic passage of play. He and the returning Moeen Ali were both stumped off Lyon, charging down the pitch, before Broad lost his off stump to Green after hoicking a couple of fours.

Root freed his arms after ticking past his hundred, a landmark that was met with a punch of the air and a standing ovation from around the ground. This was his first hundred against Australia in eight years, with a dozen unconverted half-centuries in between times, and the 30th of his Test career.

There was enough time for him to take 20 runs off one Lyon over - along with Robinson, who reverse-swept him for four - before Stokes, wearing his bucket hat, gestured for the pair to come back in. There may never have been a day of Ashes cricket quite like it.

Though Bairstow made his return to the Test team against Ireland at Lord's earlier this month, his innings on Friday was his first visit to the crease for England since breaking his leg in a freak golfing accident in September last year.

He arrived at a critical juncture too, with England wobbling on 176 for 5 following the dismissal of Ben Stokes. However, he instigated another wave of attack in a 121-run partnership with his fellow Yorkshireman, Joe Root, and by the time he was stumped off Nathan Lyon, he had shown more than just a glimpse of his stellar form from 2022 than had made his recall non-negotiable.

"It was great fun being back out there, to be honest," Bairstow told Sky Sports. "It took a little bit of time to just get my rhythm, just to get my hands and my feet going. But I think when you come in off a lay-off like I have, that's going to take a bit of time. But when you're ready, you try and give it your best shot and, if it's there to hit, you try and give it a whack."

"Giving it a whack" was very much the order of another extraordinary day of England's new-look Test approach. The tone was set by Zak Crawley's blazing drive for four off Pat Cummins' first ball of the series, and continued at such a chaotic rate that Stokes was able declare the innings at 393 for 8 after 78 overs, leaving Australia four overs to survive before the close.

"Over the last 12 months, I don't think that's a change to what it's been like, to be honest with you," Bairstow said. "If the ball has been there to hit, the lads have tried to hit it. Sometimes you nick it, sometimes you miss it, sometimes you middle there. It's part and parcel of the game that we're fortunate to play.

"The intent that the lads showed - from, obviously, Zak's shot first ball of the day … I just heard it. I was like, wow, it's like a cannon … it's a stark contrast to when we were Down Under the last time.

"So it's been a good day. The crowd's been amazing, the lads have been on good form, really enjoying it, and that's exactly what we spoke about leading into the game.

"The lads are out there with a smile on their face," he added. "You can see that at the start of the day, whether it's in the warm-ups, or that first ball, and right to the end.

"International cricket is completely different to county cricket, and the occasion and everything is what we live for. And when your beans are going and your hands are going, that's exactly what I love. That's what it's all about."

England's typically high tempo of 5.03 runs per over meant that, for the fourth time in his captaincy, Stokes was able to declare England's first innings inside 100 overs. However, with Root unbeaten on 118 and looking good for several more on a true wicket, it was arguably the most contentious closure yet. Bairstow, however, insisted the faith that this team has in each other's roles means that they are confident that the bowlers will get stuck in on day two.

"It was a bold call, it was a good call," Bairstow said. "There will be conversations around it, but no-one likes going out there with 20 minutes and four overs, when you've got Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson running in at the end of a day that has been a bit of a toil.

"The biggest thing is being patient and relentless on a length," he added. "They're going hit the middle of the bat because they're good players. But we're able to build pressure through our fields, through the ruthless lengths that we're able to hold, with the three guys [Broad, Robinson and James Anderson] that have got such a wealth of experience behind them.

"Whether the pitch is flat, whether it's swinging, whether it's seaming, I've no doubt that the guys will be able to call upon all those experiences, and all those times that it has potentially been flat. We will turn up in the morning and we'll see again. They had to start tonight, and they've got to start again, and it does take a couple of balls to get in."

With 11 wins in their last 13 Tests, however, England are riding a rare high in Test cricket, and Bairstow admitted that the confidence that that breeds could be critical for the rest of the contest.

"There's different pressures, but when you go in on the back of wins, and of people in some form, there's a huge amount of trust within each other to go out and do their own jobs individually, which then collectively comes together as a unit.

"Throughout the whole last 12 months, that's exactly what it's been about. It's about trust in each individual to go out and play their individual way."

Such are the reasons why Moeen Ali was tempted back to Test cricket after an absence of 21 months. His first innings back was a predictably hard-swinging knock of 18 from 17 with two fours and a big six down the ground. And, on a dry pitch that has already earned Lyon four first-innings wickets, his most important role could yet be to come.

"That's the brilliant thing about Mo," Bairstow said. "He comes in with that freedom and the thought process of, right, let's go and try and change the game. Let's go and try and win a game.

"That's the whole ethos of this team. How can we have those individual performances that enable you to go and win games? Not just go and compete, but go and actually take the game on, in order to put you and the team into a position that you can potentially force a result."