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Ultimately, even the celebration was ideal, under lights under that unusual intense blue southern sky, within the tumult of the match situation – frantic Baz energy, the English lower order swinging freely in a do-or-die manner at the other end.

So yeah. All that stuff. At the heart, Joe Root eased the ball away past fine leg to notch his long-awaited Test hundred in Australia.

However, for those who understand, the significance is clear. Imagine trying to explain why this was not just warm, uplifting and cleansing, but quietly epic.

A Milestone Frozen in Time

A player who already possessed 39 hundreds in this rigorous discipline of a sport has now registered his 40th. But, trace the journey, the artistry, the setbacks.

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

Yet there exists something further about wishing for Root to be great in Australia. It’s not about point-scoring. Every Australian who understands cricket already knows Root is a world-class cricketer.

Root's Century as a Sturdy Handhold

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

Are England going to win at the Gabba? It's unclear. But Joe Root got a hundred. Did Harry Brook play... the worst shot yet? Yes. He did.

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

It had to start with the early wickets tumbling, and England’s greatest modern player coming out at two wickets down for five runs. Root was dropped early in the slips.

The Dichotomy in the Middle

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

At one end, Root was exuding calm, relaxed, graceful, alert. Meanwhile, Brook was batting like a man who desperately needs the bathroom.

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

A Reckless Decision

Should one attack this threat? Yes. No settling in, no feet. Just a flash of the bat first up.

The delivery to Brook was full-length, the edge clear. There is no context 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. Now Brook presented the scarecrow, batting without a brain.

Root's Steady Answer

Therefore one half of this England team kept faltering, while at the other end Root batted with immense resolve, but for everyone else’s too.

Root provided his own subtle correction, a victory for doing your homework, working at your flaws.

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

Are they going to bowl Australia out? Are they going to learn? It remains to be seen. But Joe Root made a hundred.