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Ultimately, the very celebration was perfect, on the field under that strange vivid blue southern sky, within the tumult of the match situation – frantic Baz energy, England’s lower order swinging freely in a do-or-die manner at the other end.

So yeah. All that stuff. In the middle, the veteran batsman steered the ball away to fine leg to secure his first Test hundred in Australia.

Yet, the true meaning resonates with those who have followed the journey. Picture trying to explain the reason this was more than warm, inspiring and cleansing, but quietly epic.

A Moment Caught in Its Own Light

A man who already had 39 centuries in this starchy formal dance of a sport has now scored his fortieth. However, trace the journey, the artistry, the jags in the road.

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

Yet there exists something more about wanting Root to be great in Australia. This isn't concerning rivalry. Every Australian who cares for cricket already knows Root is a exceptional cricketer.

Root's Century as a Solid Foundation

Root’s hundred felt important in other ways, not least as something concrete in the series for this team, a foothold in the glacier.

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

And not just 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 premier batsman coming out at 5/2. He was given a life early in the slips.

The Contrast in the Crease

In the afternoon session, England were 3/175. Two versions of elite Yorkshire-dom at the crease.

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

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

A Costly Stroke

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

The ball to Brook was full, the edge thick. 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 the Tin Man. Now Brook presented the scarecrow, batting without a brain.

Root's Silent Response

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

He offered his own masterful response, a triumph for doing your homework, addressing your flaws.

England are still in this series because he scaled the peak, provided a lesson in what talent ultimately means.

Are they going to bowl Australia out? Are they going to learn? Not sure. But Joe Root compiled a hundred.