\n<\/p>\n
Bethell’s century, which took the tourists to 302-8 and a lead of 119, makes the 22-year-old the seventh youngest man to score a Test hundred for England against Australia.<\/p>\n
Having come in during the first over, he strolled to the nineties but 29 balls passed with Bethell a hit away from a century.<\/p>\n
Harry Brook, England’s vice-captain, wafted and waved at Mitchell Starc bouncers at the other end. Bethell’s dad, Graham, took deep breaths in the stands. <\/p>\n
It was the man that mattered most who appeared the calmest of all.<\/p>\n
Bethell had, of course, been here before.<\/p>\n
In November 2024, he reached 96 against New Zealand in his second Test, only to nick behind off Tim Southee.<\/p>\n
His response afterwards, that it would have been “flair” to “smack that through the covers” hinted at Bethell’s freer side – the one that had him pictured doing the YMCA during England’s ill-fated mid-Ashes trip to Noosa.<\/p>\n
This hundred showed all of his maturity that is so highly regarded by England – and what persuaded them to make him their youngest captain on last year’s white-ball tour of Ireland. <\/p>\n
“He played in a way that Test cricket has been played for many generations,” said former England captain Michael Vaughan on Test Match Special. “You respect the ball and have good technique.<\/p>\n
“It was a technical masterclass. A masterclass in composure and calmness. <\/p>\n
“The strokeplay, when he got a chance to score, he didn’t try to overhit it. We have seen a batting masterclass from someone who let the ball come.<\/p>\n
“He didn’t hit the ball in the air that often. It was a throwback.”<\/p>\n
Though the landmark came with a flick for four over mid-wicket off Beau Webster’s spin, Bethell’s first ton was moulded in a style from the old school.<\/p>\n
While defending the danger area around his stumps, he timed back-foot punches rather than slashing cuts and clipped from his pads to keep the score moving.<\/p>\n
A glorious on-drive off Michael Neser was the highlight and a dismissive pull off Cameron Green through mid-wicket a statement.<\/p>\n
“I had two shots and a half,” said Cook, famed for his cuts, pulls and clips, on TNT Sports.<\/p>\n
“Four shots would help anyone be world-class. He has guts and determination. <\/p>\n
“There were some really tough balls but he has a nice solid technique down the ground.<\/p>\n
“Clip, pull, drive and cut. A classic number three innings.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Bethell’s century, which took the tourists to 302-8 and a lead of 119, makes the 22-year-old the seventh youngest man to score a Test hundred for England against Australia. Having come in during the first over, he strolled to the nineties but 29 balls passed with Bethell a hit away from a century. Harry Brook,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}