"in the frenzy of the game-state manic Baz energy, England's lower order scything away death cult-style at the other end, the way even the grass seems lacquered and glazed by the lights. So yeah. All that stuff. In the middle of this Joe Root guided the ball away through point to complete his first Test hundred in Australia, then marked it with a gentle smile and a wave of the bat, no fist-punching, no monkeys off backs, no angsty and pointed messaging."
"Imagine trying to explain to someone who hasn't followed the story why this was not just warm, uplifting and cathartic, but quietly epic, a moment caught for ever in its own square of space and light. A man who already had 39 hundreds in this starchy formal dance of a sport has now scored his 40th. But follow the story, the craft, the jags in the road, the pieces this thing takes out of you along the way."
Under a deep-blue southern sky and lights that made the grass appear lacquered, England celebrated as lower-order batters surged and Baz injected manic energy into the match. Joe Root guided a ball through point to reach his first Test hundred in Australia, marking it with a gentle smile and a bat wave rather than ostentatious gestures. The century was Root's 40th in Test cricket, earned after a career of craft, setbacks and recoveries. The innings created a self-contained, quietly epic sporting moment that connected emotionally despite surrounding hoopla. Australians want Root's greatness acknowledged locally, beyond statistics and rhetorical banter.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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