Just before Steven Smith raised his arms to celebrate his 34th Test century, there was a little knowing nod to the dressing room.
It wasn't the release of emotion that erupted from him after his drought-breaking century at the Gabba. The running joke within the Australia team at the start of each summer is that Smith has found his hands again. This nod suggested he had found something else, his old self.
His 140 against India at the MCG was the closest Smith has resembled to the run-making machine he once was. The movement patterns, the scoring shots, the defensive strokes, the calmness and the ease of his accumulation all looked familiar. There was an air of inevitability about his century. It was a matter of when, not if, as it had been so often in the past.
The nod was telling when juxtaposed with Smith shaking his head as he walked off Adelaide Oval three weeks ago, having been strangled down the leg side for 2.
Then, he wore the look of a man bereft of answers, exasperated to the point of exhaustion that he could not find his old self. He was averaging 23.20 for the calendar year at that point and 10 in his last seven Test innings. The move back to No. 4 had yielded scores of 0, 17 and 2. Ten-thousand Test match runs was only 296 away but it was starting to feel like a matter of if rather than when.
Three hits later, there was a moment at the MCG where he looked like he might get there before tea, until he was bizarrely bowled 51 runs short of the milestone after scoring a second century in as many Tests.
"You've got to have faith," Smith said after play. "You've got to have a bit of trust in what you're trying to do. I've played the game for long enough now to know that you can have your ups and downs. Sometimes you can be hitting the ball really nicely, which, I think I said when I wasn't scoring the runs, I actually felt like I was batting pretty well. And there's a difference, I think, between being out of form and out of runs.
"I think you need a lot of luck on these wickets to get big runs as well."
Australia will be grateful Smith has found his old self again. It may be a fleeting plateau amid a gradual decline. It could also be a regression, as he would hope, in the opposite direction back towards his extraordinary mean.
But it comes as Australia have found a functioning batting order. That too may be fleeting. It also could be because the MCG pitch has finally given the batters some grace.
"This one's probably offering a little bit less perhaps, than some of the others," Smith said. "That's probably more the ball getting a little bit softer quicker than the other wickets, but yeah, there's certainly still something on offer"
Coincidentally, the order has functioned as a collective for the first time in a long time. Sam Konstas' extraordinary and chaotic innings dragged Australia's struggling top-order in its slipstream. Each of the top four passed 50 for the first time in 28 Test matches. Smith walked out to bat in the 45th over, the first time he had faced his first ball as deep into an innings in 32 walks to the crease, during which time he had averaged 36.32.
Australia piled up 474 without the need for an exceptional rearguard from Travis Head or Mitchell Marsh, who contributed just four runs between them.
And apart from finding his old self, Smith found a rare ally at No. 8. Pat Cummins made an excellent 49 in a stand of 112 with Smith. It was the highest score by an Australia bowler at No. 8 in six years. Only Alex Carey has reached 50 batting in that position in that time due to a nightwatcher dropping him down one spot.
Cummins has been a clutch contributor for Australia with the bat in the last 18 months. But his heroics at Edgbaston, Brisbane and Christchurch had all come at No. 9. For all the talent that he and Mitchell Starc possess with the bat, they both average 14 at No. 8 in Test cricket. It is the reason they have switched positions as often as they have. Cummins has repeatedly spoken about how little batting positions matter when talking about his top order, yet it seems to matter a great deal to him and Starc as both have declared a preference to bat at No. 9.
Of the 18 players to have batted at No. 8 more than 25 times since Cummins' Test debut in 2011, only New Zealand's Doug Bracewell has a worse average than Cummins and Starc.
Starc averaged 25.40 in his first 18 innings in the position but has averaged 9.33 in his last 34 since 2017, hence Cummins has taken the role this summer.
Getting such poor contributions from No. 8 has meant Australia's batters have not been able to form lower-order partnerships. In the last ten years, Australia had only four century stands for the seventh wicket or lower. Only Ireland and Afghanistan have had fewer.
But Cummins, like Smith, looked as comfortable as he had all series. Like the top-order batters, he has been tormented by Jasprit Bumrah. In his career, Cummins had been dismissed by Bumrah eight times for just 45 runs at an average of 15.75 deliveries per dismissal. Having entered against the second new ball on the first evening at 299 for 6, and then faced Bumrah again on the second morning, he was able to survive 20 balls against him without being dismissed.
Smith and Cummins then attacked at the other end. They rattled along at five-an-over to grind India down. Smith got inside the line and hooked two balls for six, including one of Bumrah. Cummins stayed leg side and carved balls either side of point.
"I thought Patty played really nicely, really good, positive intent," Smith said. "We were able to get a nice partnership together and sort of take a bit of a momentum of the game from that point."
They needed the stand. Without it, a score under 350 would have looked vulnerable on a surface that became splendid to bat on in the afternoon. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli were made Australia's attack look toothless for significant period in the afternoon. But the scoreboard pressure they had created with that first innings total played a part as India imploded late via a calamitous run-out and another special MCG spell from Scott Boland.
"We've posted a nice score and we're in good spot," Smith said with another knowing nod. "That last hour, that was a big last hour in the game."