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Finally, the moment of celebration was perfect, out there under that strange intense blue southern sky, within the tumult of the match situation – frantic Baz energy, the English lower order scything away with reckless abandon at the other end.

Indeed. All of that. In the middle, the former captain guided the ball away to fine leg to secure his maiden Test hundred in Australia.

But, then if you know, you know. Imagine trying to explain why this was not just heartwarming, uplifting and cleansing, but quietly epic.

A Milestone Caught in Time

A player who already had 39 tons in this traditional format of a sport has now scored his 40th. However, consider the narrative, the craft, the jags in the road.

There will, of course, be plenty of discussion material to be settled. Does this cement Joe Root's greatness? Is he considered great by Australian standards?

Yet there exists something further about wanting Root to be great in Australia. This isn't concerning point-scoring. Every Australian who cares for cricket is well aware Root is a world-class cricketer.

The Captain's Hundred as a Sturdy Handhold

This ton felt important in other ways, especially as something concrete in the series for this team, a handhold in the ice.

Can England secure victory at the Gabba? It's unclear. But Joe Root got a hundred. Was Harry Brook's dismissal the poorest shot? Yes. He did.

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

It had to start with the wings already falling off, and England’s key batter coming out at 5/2. He was given a life early in the slips.

The Contrast in the Crease

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

At one end, Root was playing his natural game, relaxed, lithe, watchful. At the other, Brook was batting like a man who urgently requires the bathroom.

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

A Damaging Choice

Should one attack this threat? Apparently so. No sighters, no feet. Just a reckless waft first up.

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

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

Root's Silent Rebuke

And so one half of this England team continued to collapse, while at the other end Root batted for survival, but for everyone else’s too.

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

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

Will they take twenty wickets? Are they going to learn? Not sure. But Joe Root compiled a hundred.