Stephen Cook started 2016 with a century on Test debut in Centurion and ended it with one at St George's Park. This year has been the time of his cricketing life; the year he cemented his spot in the Test side.
Forget about his unorthodox approach to scoring runs. Forget that he flaps outside the off stump, curtain-in-the-wind style. Forget how many times the ball flies off the edge as a result. Forget how agricultural his sweep can be and that he often overbalances when playing the stroke.
It might be a good counter-offer to ask you to remember that his driving, especially off the back foot, can be sublime. But if you're honest, that's not what you're going to take away from this innings, is it? You're going to remember how Cook battled through the boredom of facing an attack that was not really interested in taking wickets and a clock that seemed to have stopped. The second session was three hours and ten minutes in total, interrupted by a 20 minute shower, but it felt a lot longer.
There was no real intent in Sri Lanka's approach, as though they had resigned themselves to chasing a mammoth target and were getting on with helping the hosts set what they wanted. Their line was either outside off or on the pads, they left large gaps in the field and provided enough loose deliveries for South Africa to put away.
Play meandered aimlessly and batsmen could easily have lost concentration and given it away. Dean Elgar did, but only after he had shared in a second successive century opening stand with Cook. Elgar will be furious for not converting either of the fifties he has scored in this match; Cook would have known he could not afford to make the same mistake.
Even though he has scored three hundreds and two fifties in seven Tests and averages more than any of his team-mates, Cook has been the critics' prime candidate to get the cut when AB de Villiers returns to fitness. Faf du Plessis is secure. Between JP Duminy and Temba Bavuma, there are glimpses of form. No one has dared to suggest Hashim Amla could be on the wane, not properly anyway. So that leaves one of the openers and since Elgar has been there longer, Cook has come under fire. Unfairly. This innings should have doused those flames, if not completely put them out.
Cook's most convincing period came when Amla, the man that could be considered a candidate in the when-de Villiers-returns era, was at the other end. Amla vacillated between being tentative early and taking on the bowling to force his way back into form but Cook, apart from the chance he gave to gully off the outside edge, was the stable hand. Cook was particularly impressive in his strike rotation and his urgency to keep things moving. The Cook-Amla partnership came at a rate of 5.57.
Amla benefitted from it too and looked better than he has done in the last four matches. A slight shift to his stance, with Amla taking guard on off stump rather than middle and off, has allowed him to be in better positions to play his shots. The cover drives he rolled out were as good as any he's treated spectators to over the years, but until he crosses a milestone, concerns over his form will remain.
In the same way, it's starting to feel as though no matter what Cook does he will always be playing for his place to some extent. Cook's age - he is 34 - and his technique fuel that argument but it's time to acknowledge that it's not about how Cook does it, but that he does it. He has done it for a decade-and-a-half, racked up over 12,000 first-class runs and 40 centuries, including one at every ground in South Africa except Pietermaritzburg Oval. His franchise, Lions, are playing against Dolphins at that venue on January 19, three days after the final Test against Sri Lanka.
Don't for a moment think Cook will want to rest from that game. It would give him the chance to kick off 2017 as perfectly as he ended 2016 and having seen what a good start can do for him, it's something he won't want to miss out on.