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Finally, even the celebration was ideal, under lights under that unique deep-blue southern sky, amid the chaos of the contest – manic Baz energy, England’s lower order scything away in a do-or-die manner at the other end.

So yeah. All that stuff. In the middle, the veteran batsman guided the ball away past fine leg to notch 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, uplifting and cleansing, but quietly epic.

A Moment Frozen in Time

A batsman who already had thirty-nine hundreds in this traditional format of a sport has now compiled his 40th. However, trace the narrative, the skill, the jags in the road.

There will, of course, be a lot of debate stuff to be settled. Is Joe Root finally great? Is he considered great by Australian standards?

Yet there exists something more about hoping for Root to be great in Australia. This isn't concerning point-scoring. Any Australian who knows about cricket is well aware Root is a exceptional cricketer.

Root's Century as a Solid Foundation

This ton felt significant in other ways, particularly as something solid in the series for this team, a handhold in the glacier.

Are England going to win at the Gabba? Don’t know. 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 outstanding one in authentically tough conditions, an innings that may 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 Crease

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

On one side, Root was exuding calm, easy, lithe, watchful. Meanwhile, Brook was batting like a man who urgently requires the bathroom.

Meanwhile, a gloom was coming, the shadows creeping across the ground, and Mitchell Starc preparing for the crucial spell of the day.

A Damaging Choice

Do you run towards this danger? Yes. No settling in, no feet. Just a flash of the bat first up.

The delivery to Brook was full, the edge thick. There is no context where this was a good choice.

It was, if nothing else, novel in its abjectness. We have seen England bat in Australia without fluidity. Now Brook presented the scarecrow, batting without a brain.

Root's Quiet Rebuke

Therefore one half of this England team kept faltering, while at the other end Root batted not just for his life, but for everyone else’s too.

He offered his own quiet rebuke, a success for diligence, working at your flaws.

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

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