A leg-side dig off Milan Rathnayake did it, a guaranteed one turned into a comfortable two, the question now of how the batter would celebrate this moment. Jamie Smith had become a Test centurion.
But there was no David Warner-esque skip-and-jump, no sign of theatricality under the Manchester sun’s guest appearance. Only a simple nod to tradition: the helmet off and the bat raised for his teammates and crowd, a smile reserved for his batting colleague, Gus Atkinson. The lid was off for less than 20 seconds before he returned to his wide-crouching stance, ready for the next ball.
