The Ashes: Was it ever in doubt? The great Joe Root achieves his Holy Grail

Finally, in his 30th Test innings Down Under, Root achieved his maiden three-figure score on Australian soil.

It was a sub-plot that had dominated the build-up to the series, almost a mission within the mission to win back the Ashes.

The moment, when it came, was rich with relief and, it being Root, boyish joy, too.

No sooner had Scott Boland been tickled away to the fine-leg boundary, lifting the Yorkshireman from 98 to 102, than he softly punched the air, kissed the badge on his helmet and broke out into a grin as wide as the Gabba.

Was it ever in doubt?

Even England’s greatest run-scorer must have had his moments, times when he wondered whether his glittering CV might forever be missing a significant entry.

But in a career that has felt guided by the hand of destiny, he was not to be denied.

Who would say now that Sheffield’s finest is not an all-time great, as some of Australian persuasion had mischievously claimed?

That, of course, was already beyond argument – this being Root’s 40th Test hundred, with only Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ricky Ponting (41) above him.

More importantly, it was of serious value to his side, with England 1-0 down in the series and 5-2 inside 15 balls of the second Test when Root arrived at the crease, the very Ashes themselves, perhaps, even on the line.

What followed was a superlative demonstration of great balance at the crease, decisive foot movement and suitable shot selection from which others in the side could learn a thing or two, Root still there at the close on 135 out of 325-9.

His last-wicket partnership of 61 with Jofra Archer - who clubbed 32 from 26 balls - might yet prove extremely significant, although there were some, such as Hayden’s former team-mate Glenn McGrath, who felt that it might have been better to declare and get stuck into the Australian top-order with the pink ball under lights.

Time will tell.

Although Root took the plaudits - and deservedly so - the day was also a triumph for Zak Crawley.

If Root ever felt that the noise around his search for a hundred in Australia was deafening, it was nothing compared to the din of disquiet surrounding Crawley following his pair in the opening Test in Perth.

Twelve days is a long time to stew on two blobs, but Crawley made a fine 76 before getting a faint under-edge through to the wicketkeeper as he attempted to pull.

The noise around Crawley’s position may not have abated, but kudos, as they say, to the big man here.

That Archer’s was the next highest score behind Root and Crawley said something for the collective frailty of England’s batting, with much of the heat once more falling on Harry Brook.

When Mitchell Starc, Australia’s best bowler on show in this game, and something of a pink-ball wizard, tempted him with a wide delivery outside the off stump, Brook’s flashing drive was caught in the slips.

It was another maddening way for the Yorkshireman to go, his dismissal taking Starc past Wasim Akram’s record of 414 for the most Test wickets by a left-arm pace bowler.

Starc ended the day with 6-71 to add to his 10 wickets in the first Test and did not appear to have to work overly hard for his latest harvest.

Starc it was who caused the early jitters when Ben Duckett edged into the slips and Ollie Pope chopped on, wickets that inspired the fear for England’s supporters of ‘here we go again’.

Later, Starc had Will Jacks throwing the bat to give more slip catching practice, then Gus Atkinson brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey sprinting back towards fine-leg and Brydon Carse edging behind a drive, Australia’s out-fielding of the highest standard.

Take out Starc, however, and Australia – who omitted spinner Nathan Lyon for a home Test match for the first time in 13 years – have a pretty unremarkable attack after rumours that Pat Cummins might return from injury for this game proved no more than that.

Indeed, with Josh Hazlewood also injured, the hosts were without three of their so-called ‘big four’ bowlers.

Big chance for England, in other words.

Not even the run-out of Ben Stokes disturbed Root’s equilibrium.

The captain pushed the ball into the covers and was rightly sent back as Josh Inglis’s dead-eyed throw at one stump did the rest.

The run-out exposed Jamie Smith, bowled through the gate by Boland for a duck, at which point Australia might have had hopes of restricting their opponents to 250.

Not with ‘Average Joe’, as the Australian media unwisely called him, on the prowl and with more than a glint of Sheffield steel in his eyes.

Root answered the questions that had not needed answering in any case and left the field the happiest man in Australia - with the possible exception, that is, of Hayden.

Why, as the former opening batsman said on television afterwards of his threat to inflict his naked, 54-year-old carcass on the watching world: “I’m a very happy man, I must say.

"There are two people in my life that are very happy as well – my wife and my daughter, cos’ there’s no way they would have wanted to see that happen.

“Obviously, Joe Root is class, so it was a pretty good punt.

"When you’ve got 13,500 runs (as he has), the chances are you were going to buy blue-chip shares in Joe Root.

"He had to come good at some point, and today he looked great.”

Better, no doubt, than Hayden might have looked under now happily avoided circumstances.