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In the end, the very celebration was flawless, on the field under that unique intense blue southern sky, amid the chaos of the match situation – frantic Baz energy, the English lower order cutting loose with reckless abandon at the other end.

So yeah. All that stuff. At the heart, the former captain guided the ball away to fine leg to secure his long-awaited Test hundred in Australia.

But, then if you know, you know. Picture trying to explain the reason this was not just warm, uplifting and cathartic, but profoundly significant.

A Moment Caught in Time

A man who already had 39 hundreds in this traditional format of a sport has now compiled his 40th. However, follow the narrative, the craft, the twists and turns.

There will, of course, be much banter-war stuff to be resolved. Has Joe Root finally achieved greatness? Is he *Australian* great?

However, there is something deeper about hoping for Root to be great in Australia. It isn't regarding point-scoring. Any Australian who knows about cricket recognizes Root is a world-class cricketer.

Root's Century as a Solid Handhold

Root’s hundred felt important in other ways, not least as something solid in the series for this team, a foothold 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 superb one in truly tough conditions, an innings that might just have saved his team in this series.

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

The Contrast in the Crease

By mid-afternoon, England were 175 for three. Two examples of elite Yorkshire-dom at the crease.

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

Meanwhile, a dusk was coming, the shadows creeping across the ground, and the swing maestro preparing for the key spell of the day.

A Reckless Stroke

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

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

It was at least novel in its utter failure. 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 everyone else’s too.

Root provided his own subtle correction, a triumph for preparation, working at your flaws.

England are still in this series because he did the thing, delivered a lesson in what ability in the end means.

Are they going to bowl Australia out? Can they evolve? Uncertain. But Joe Root made a hundred.