🔗 Share this article

Finally, the very celebration was flawless, under lights under that unusual deep-blue southern sky, within the tumult of the contest – manic Baz energy, the English lower order scything away death cult-style at the other end.

Indeed. All of that. Amidst it all, the former captain eased 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 why this was not just heartwarming, inspiring and cleansing, but subtly monumental.

A Milestone Caught in Its Own Light

A batsman who already had thirty-nine hundreds in this traditional format of a sport has now scored his 40th. Yet, consider the journey, the skill, the setbacks.

There'll, of course, be much banter-war talk to be hashed out. Does this cement Joe Root's greatness? Is he *Australian* great?

Yet there exists something deeper about wanting Root to be great in Australia. It isn't regarding rivalry. Any Australian who knows about cricket already knows Root is a world-class cricketer.

Root's Hundred as a Solid Anchor

The century felt important in other ways, particularly as something solid in the series for this team, a foothold in the difficulty.

Will England triumph at the Gabba? Uncertain. But Joe Root got a hundred. Was Harry Brook's dismissal the poorest shot? Yes. He did.

This was not merely a hundred in Australia, but a superb one in genuinely tough conditions, an innings that might just have saved his team in this series.

It had to start with the wings already falling off, and England’s key batter coming out at two wickets down for five runs. He was given a life early in the slips.

The Dichotomy in the Crease

In the afternoon session, England were 175 for three. Two embodiments of elite Yorkshire-dom at the crease.

On one side, Root was playing his natural game, relaxed, graceful, alert. Meanwhile, Brook was batting like a man who desperately needs the bathroom.

All the while, a gloom was coming, shadows creeping across the ground, and the pink ball genius building up for the crucial spell of the day.

A Costly Decision

Should one attack this threat? Apparently so. No settling in, no feet. Just throw the hands at it first up.

The ball to Brook was full-length, the edge healthy. There is no scenario where this was a sensible choice.

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

The Veteran's Silent Response

And so one half of this England team continued to collapse, while at the other end Root batted for survival, but for everyone else’s too.

Root provided his own quiet rebuke, a victory for doing your homework, addressing your flaws.

The tourists are still in this series because he did the thing, offered a lesson in what ability in the end means.

Can they dismiss Australia? Can they evolve? Uncertain. But Joe Root did score a hundred.