Cook and Carberry dominate on day one

Scorecard

England made their intentions clear by promoting Carberry to open alongside Alastair Cook in a one-sided tour match in Hobart on Wednesday in which Australia A, with a fast bowler short, were humiliated.

Veteran left-hander Carberry repaid England's faith in spades on day one with a magnificent unbeaten 153, with Cook also making 154 not out on a day of carnage.

For the first time in over 15 years England managed not to lose a wicket batting for an entire day's play.

The tourists amassed 0-318 from 93 overs at stumps on day one, after they had won the toss on a flat pitch.

Cook shook off any ill-effects from his recent back complaint, but it was Carberry who was the star of the biggest opening partnership in Hobart since 1988 when Geoff Marsh and Mike Valetta posted 310 for WA against Tasmania.

Root was bumped down to No.5 for the match on Wednesday and watched on as a 33-year-old one-Test wonder wearing a Star Wars-type batting helmet seized his spot.

England have seemingly reacted to a poor showing by their top three during the UK Ashes Tour in the winter, with Root the victim.

On six occasions, England were three down for less than 65 runs and, aside from a big 180 at Lord's, Root struggled against Australian quicks Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle.

The 22-year-old is a certainty to play somewhere in the team but it is expected to be lower in the order.

Carberry, who also made 78 against a WA XI last week, continued to repay England's faith, setting up an incredible return for the 33-year-old who played one Test against Bangladesh in 2010 before his career was threatened by a serious blood clot to the lung.

"By the grace of God I'm here to enjoy what I'm doing now and I think when things like that happen it gives you perspective on your cricket," Carberry said.

"It made me relax more and enjoy the game for what is."

But before illness intervened, Carberry said it was Warne, a teammate of his at Hampshire in the mid 2000s, who had the biggest influence on his emergence as a Test-quality opener.

"I think Shane Warne is basically the reason why I actually got a chance to play Test cricket," he said.

"I was a young guy a little bit lost in county cricket, and didn't really get an opportunity. I came to Hampshire and from day one he made me feel very much at home and he gave me the backing any young player needs."

Warne hasn't been so kind to Cook, but the England skipper would have been delighted with a chance to play himself into form after missing last week's tour match with a back complaint.

Cook decimated Australia with the bat back in 2010-11 and this was an ominous start to his latest trip down under.

The Australia A attack were exposed for going in a bowler down, with just two recognised seamers picked along with allrounder and captain Moises Henriques.

It was a deliberate tactic by Australia not to select bowlers in Ashes contention for this match, however the plan may have backfired - with England's openers given an armchair ride into the coming series.

"Yeah possibly (a bowler short). We only had the five bowling options and with Moises being back from a long trip to India ... he didn't bowl as much as he would have liked to," said wicketkeeper Tim Paine.

"We didn't use the new ball as we could have ... we were a fraction short."

NSW quick Trent Copeland had figures of 0-68 from 25 overs and Queensland pace bowler Ben Cutting 0-56 off 21.

Henriques (0-34) only returned from the one-day tour of India on Monday and struggled.

Spinners Jon Holland (0-66) and Glenn Maxwell (0-80) didn't look like making a breakthrough.