MELBOURNE -- Amid the madness of England's helter-skelter run chase during the Boxing Day Test, two shots from Jacob Bethell illustrated why the precociously talented 22-year-old has what it takes to make the No 3 position his own.
They came one after the other, to the first two deliveries after tea from Scott Boland. The first, a reverse ramp, was jaw-droppingly audacious. It only garnered two runs but the intent and confidence to play that shot was astonishing.
The second, Bethell advancing to crunch a perfectly-executed cover drive, was the kind of classical shot that would make even the most cynical of purists purr.
It was an illustration of everything that's good about his game, with cricket's new and old ways fused together in a snapshot.
At tea, Bethell had been on nine. England were 77 for two chasing 175, still 98 away from their first Test victory on Australian soil in 15 years. The pressure just after the break was at its most intense.
Those two shots released it immediately and put Australia's bowlers on the back foot.
Afterwards, captain Ben Stokes was asked about that reverse ramp. "I definitely didn't tell him to do it because I can't play that shot," he said.
"You have to find a different mode of scoring when the keeper does come up to the stumps. In terms of the decision to be able to do that straight after a break, I think it showed bravery and a courageous way of taking it on."
Bethell himself said: "This was an extreme scenario where you had to do extreme things."
But being able to execute your game plan in such an extreme scenario is evidence he is a player who has a long and exciting Test future ahead of him.
He may still not have a first-class century, but that statistic says more about the lack of red-ball cricket Bethell has played in his fledgling career rather than his talent.
He shone last winter in New Zealand when asked to fill in at No 3 after an injury to Jordan Cox before the series began meant Ollie Pope moved down the order to keep wicket and bat at No 6.
His handling since by England has been questionable. Pope was restored to the most pivotal position in the order for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at the start of last summer, a match Bethell missed to play in the Indian Premier League.
Gripes about him missing that Test to play in the IPL should be countered by Bethell's admission after Melbourne that the experience of playing in India had helped him cope with the pressure of being thrust into a Boxing Day Ashes Test.
The Bazball brains trust then bottled the decision to drop Pope for the marquee series of the summer against India.
Instead, Bethell carried drinks for almost the entirety of last summer, playing just two first-class games. The second of those was the final Test against India at The Oval when Bethell came into the team at No 6 for an injured Stokes. He made 11 across both innings as England lost by six runs.
Tellingly, in the four Tests where he has been carded at No 3, his average stands at 43.
In all, the Bajan-born batter came into the fourth Ashes Test with just three first-class games under his belt in 2025. In the first innings, on an extreme pitch against a quality attack, he made one from five balls.
It prompted Michael Vaughan to question why Bethell had been thrown into the deep end in Melbourne.
The former England captain knows a thing or two about batting in the top order in Australia, named player of the series in the 2002-03 Ashes after scoring 633 runs at 63.30 as an opener.
"I just think you're giving the kid no chance," he said. "He's never got a first-class hundred and you're asking him to deliver on this stage in front of 90,000 people when his team are 3-0 down.
"If you're going to put him in the side for two games, all move up one and let him come in at No 6. Give him a chance. To throw a kid that's played no cricket in at No 3 in an Ashes series against this quality, you're just giving him no chance."
Vaughan is right. England inadvertently set up Bethell to fail in Melbourne. The fact he flourished when the pressure was at its most intense shows exactly why the elegant left-hander can not only be the team's long-term No 3 but its standard bearer in the years to come.