🔗 Share this article

Ultimately, even the celebration was flawless, under lights under that unusual intense blue southern sky, in the frenzy of the match situation – manic Baz energy, England’s lower order swinging freely with reckless abandon at the other end.

Right. All that drama. Amidst it all, the veteran batsman steered the ball away through fine leg to notch his maiden Test hundred in Australia.

But, then if you know, you know. Picture trying to explain the reason this was not just heartwarming, inspiring and cathartic, but quietly epic.

A Moment Frozen in Its Own Light

A player who already possessed 39 centuries in this rigorous discipline of a sport has now scored his fortieth. However, consider the narrative, the artistry, the setbacks.

There'll, of course, be plenty of banter-war material to be settled. Is Joe Root finally great? Is he *Australian* great?

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

The Captain's Hundred as a Reliable Anchor

Root’s hundred felt significant in other ways, not least as something tangible in the series for this team, a handhold in the glacier.

Can England secure victory at the Gabba? Uncertain. But Joe Root got a hundred. Did Harry Brook produce a disastrous stroke? Yes. He did.

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

The innings commenced with the wings already falling off, and England’s greatest modern player coming out at a dire 5 for 2. Root was dropped early in the slips.

The Contrast in the Middle

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

At one end, Root was playing his natural game, relaxed, graceful, alert. Meanwhile, Brook was batting like a man who urgently requires the bathroom.

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

A Reckless Decision

Do you run towards this danger? Yes. No settling in, no feet. Just a reckless waft first up.

The ball to Brook was full, the edge healthy. There is no world where this was a smart choice.

It was at least novel in its abjectness. We have seen England bat in Australia like a rusted machine. This was Brook as the scarecrow, batting without a brain.

The Veteran's Quiet Answer

Therefore one half of this England team persisted in failing, while at the other end Root batted for survival, but for the team's cause.

He delivered his own quiet rebuke, a victory for preparation, working at your flaws.

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

Are they going to bowl Australia out? Will they adapt? It remains to be seen. But Joe Root compiled a hundred.