🔗 Share this article

Finally, the very celebration was flawless, on the field under that strange intense blue southern sky, amid the chaos of the contest – frantic Baz energy, England’s lower order scything away with reckless abandon at the other end.

Right. All that drama. At the heart, the veteran batsman steered the ball away to fine leg to secure his first Test hundred in Australia.

However, for those who understand, the significance is clear. Consider trying to explain the reason this was not just warm, inspiring and cathartic, but profoundly significant.

A Milestone Preserved in Time

A man who already possessed 39 hundreds in this starchy formal dance of a sport has now compiled his 40th. But, trace the story, the artistry, the setbacks.

There will, of course, be a lot of discussion talk to be resolved. Has Joe Root finally achieved greatness? Is he *Australian* great?

Yet there exists something further about hoping for Root to be great in Australia. It’s not about rivalry. Any Australian who knows about cricket recognizes Root is a exceptional cricketer.

Root's Hundred as a Sturdy Handhold

Root’s hundred felt meaningful in other ways, especially as something solid in the series for this team, a handhold in the ice.

Are England going to win at the Gabba? Uncertain. But Joe Root got a hundred. Did Harry Brook produce a disastrous stroke? Yes. He did.

And not just a hundred in Australia, but a outstanding one in truly tough conditions, an innings that could have saved his team in this series.

It began with the team in deep trouble, and England’s greatest modern player coming out at a dire 5 for 2. Root was dropped early in the slips.

The Dichotomy in the Crease

By mid-afternoon, England were 3/175. Two examples of elite Yorkshire grit at the crease.

At one end, Root was playing his natural game, easy, lithe, alert. At the other, Brook was batting like a man who desperately needs the bathroom.

Throughout, a dusk was coming, the shadows creeping across the ground, and Mitchell Starc revving up for the key spell of the day.

A Damaging Choice

Is it wise to challenge this? Yes. No sighters, no feet. Just a reckless waft first up.

The ball to Brook was full-length, the edge thick. There is no world where this was a good choice.

It was, if nothing else, novel in its abjectness. We've witnessed England bat in Australia like the Tin Man. Now Brook presented the scarecrow, batting without a brain.

Root's Quiet Rebuke

And so one half of this England team persisted in failing, while at the other end Root batted for survival, but for the entire innings.

He offered his own quiet rebuke, a victory for diligence, correcting your flaws.

England are still in this series because he achieved the milestone, offered a lesson in what ability ultimately means.

Will they take twenty wickets? Can they evolve? Not sure. But Joe Root compiled a hundred.