Jacob Bethell shines, but Australia closing in on victory
Webster finished the day with 3-51 from 13 overs, his best figures in the Test, to put Australia on the cusp of a victory that would secure a 4-1 series scoreline. Unless disaster strikes on day five, Thursday will be a modest chase.
But England’s shining light was Bethell, who reached the last place unbeaten on 142 despite a disastrous run-out with Jamie Smith (26).
Jacob Bethell celebrates his maiden Test ton.Credit: Getty Images
Bethell played just four first-class matches last year, scoring 20 and 12 for Warwickshire against Somerset in June and then playing the fifth Test between England and India at the Oval.
He featured for the England Lions against Australia A last month before being called up for the Boxing Day test.
Highly respected within the England set-up largely for his white-ball prowess, Bethell was limited in the amount of red-ball cricket he played.
“There’s so much cricket being played around the world that I don’t get to play as much first-class cricket as I potentially would like,” Bethell said at a press conference after Tuesday’s match.
“I love playing for Warwickshire and coming back home to them, but I don’t think it really needs to be first-class cricket if I’m playing cricket all year round.”
Jacob Bethell lands a shot off the back foot en route to an unbeaten 142.Credit: Getty Images
Bethell’s 673 runs at 23.17 in 20 matches for Warwickshire hardly marked his first Test century in Australia, but his peroxide blonde hair and free-flowing approach gave Kevin Pietersen a 2005 Ashes vibe.
Seated at No. 3, Bethell became the fifth Englishman and the first specialist batsman to score his first first-class hundred in a Test, following Henry Wood, Jack Russell, Stuart Broad and Gus Atkinson. The last Australian to achieve this feat was Mitchell Johnson against South Africa in 2009.
Ian Botham described Bethell as a “star of the future”, while Broad described him as the “diamond” England had unearthed.
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It’s a small asterisk that the century comes with a dead tire, but Bethell will return to Australia better equipped and armed with the tools to counter an attack that could look very different next time.
Only Alastair Cook, aged 21 years and 357 days, scored an Ashes hundred for England in Australia at the tender age of 21 years and 357 days.
“Some of their batting play is as good as we’ve seen from anyone,” former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said at Seven. “I can’t imagine what your heart rate would be at 99.”
The state of the game means opener Usman Khawaja still has a chance to spend time in the middle on day five, with speculation suggesting he could open the batting with a fairytale finish on the table.
