What's that? A glimmer amid the wreckage? Joe Root's long-awaited centuries in Australia were special but we knew he was good. The Melbourne win was something but that was a dead rubber. In scoring his first Test century on day four of the fifth Ashes Test, a sensational 142 not out that kept England alive for another day, Jacob Bethell provided the moment England fans can cling to when this Ashes defeat is all said and done, whether 4-1, 3-1 or 3-2. There is a future. And it comes from an elegant left-hander with a flash of peroxide.

"I've seen some hundreds but I don't think I've seen many better debut hundreds than that," said former England captain Sir Alastair Cook. 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, 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. It was the man that mattered most who appeared the calmest of all.

Bethell had, of course, been here before. In November 2024, he reached 96 against New Zealand in his second Test, only to nick behind off Tim Southee. 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. 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.

"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. It was a technical masterclass. A masterclass in composure and calmness. 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. He didn't hit the ball in the air that often. It was a throwback."

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. 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. A glorious on-drive off Michael Neser was the highlight and a dismissive pull off Cameron Green through mid-wicket a statement.

"I had two shots and a half," said Cook, famed for his cuts, pulls and clips, on TNT Sports. "Four shots would help anyone be world-class. He has guts and determination. There were some really tough balls but he has a nice solid technique down the ground. Clip, pull, drive and cut. A classic number three innings."

Bethell said afterwards his ability to bat long, something England have been craving, was formed by being small as a child and his back-foot shots. "I only became able to hit boundaries and sixes when I was 15 or 16 so I got that ability to bat a long time when I was younger," he said. He said his back-foot shots came because "growing up in Barbados I got a lot of chin music".

"I was a little bit nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as I was in New Zealand when I forgot to watch the ball and got out," he added. Cook, the only England batter younger than Bethell to score an Ashes ton this century, said Bethell has "shown the future of England batting after Joe Root". "In the media box there are a lot of very good Australian cricketers who haven't seen a lot of him and they are purring," he added.

In England, few young careers have been as regularly discussed as Bethell's. An Under-19 international who moved to the UK from the Caribbean aged 12 for a cricket scholarship, he was plucked for his debut in New Zealand in 2024 despite being a batter without a professional century to his name. Having broken that duck with a white-ball hundred against South Africa in September, he is now the fifth man to score his first first-class hundred in a Test for England. "A lot of observers of the game knew he had it in him and you look at him and think that's a Test-match batter but without the experience, the first-class cricket, you never truly know," said former England bowler Steven Finn. "Today is the day we truly found out Jacob Bethell belongs on this stage."

Much of the discussion around Bethell intensified because he played so little last summer. He has faced more balls in this innings than he did domestically in England last year, having missed the start of the season and the Test against Zimbabwe because of commitments at the Indian Premier League. There is a world where Ollie Pope did not make his century against Zimbabwe, leaving Bethell to play the entire Test series against India before beginning this Ashes series as England's number three. Instead, a tortured five from 31 balls in the fifth-Test defeat by India after months on the sidelines effectively sealed his fate.

Who knows how this series may have ended had England backed the Bethell-shaped feeling in their gut. Pope, dropped after 125 runs across six innings in this series, had 16 innings against Australia and did not pass 50. Bethell has one of England's best hundreds down under in his second Ashes Test.

"He left the ball really well," said Cook. "A real classy innings. Compare that to India when he looked like he didn't know how to score against high-class Indian bowling and he ran down the wicket." He added: "There is not much to go wrong with that technique. It is so simple. There are not huge movements. I like players with trigger movements. He has played Bazball when he has played but there was zero of that today. Today he will say 'I don't need to change my method. This is my method.'"