Australia 8(dec)-442 England 1-29

For someone who burst into Test cricket with a debut century, success has been an awfully long time coming for Shaun Marsh. Inconsistency, a certain reserve in self-expression and hamstrings wound as tight as G-strings all played their part. Things seemed to come easily, until they came like drip torture.

Marsh's first significant innings in Ashes cricket finally landed six years after his arrival in Test cricket. Between that day in Kandy and last week at the Gabba, Marsh had only played one Ashes match in the 15 for which he was eligible. On that occasion, he faced 10 balls in two innings at Trent Bridge in 2015, earning guilt by association with an Australian debacle. Injury hit him without favour, interrupting both good and bad patches of form. His best innings also tended to be as far away as that look in his eyes: 100s in Sri Lanka, South Africa and the other side of Bass Strait. The selectors' undimmable faith in his potential was held against him. That squinty eye against the West Australian sun, which so endeared his proletarian father to Australian crowds, held the son at a distance. Geoff was a son of the soil; Shaun was seen as a son of privilege, given an inside run ever since he was a child on tour facing Shane Warne in the nets.

His 100 in Adelaide was also a long time coming – his career writ small, except for the exciting early bit. This was a very old-fashioned Ashes innings, mean and merciless. If there is a fashion for "dry" bowling, the Australians in Adelaide practised dry batting, renouncing easy scoring opportunities in the effort for a greater asceticism. Don't give them anything, even if it means giving oneself very little.

What they really wanted was to deny England the momentum of regular wickets. Sensing that the visitors' morale must be fragile – it was only human for England's bowlers to be wondering why they were out there at all – the Australians starved their visitors of the pleasure that comes with regular celebrations. In the first five sessions in Adelaide, the gaps between the Australian wickets were 19 overs, 18 overs, 11 overs, 19 overs, 26 overs and nine overs, before the session-long partnership between Marsh and Pat Cummins that rubbed it in. That made precious little happiness for the English. By tea-time yesterday, Joe Root was gathering his wilting men in a circle, speaking his mind; what he could say, aside from "Sorry", would stay in-house.

Marsh was indomitable. England came into this game believing, based on the Brisbane experience, that Steve Smith was the Australian rug: pull it out from under them, and the rest would topple. It didn't turn out that way, and nor was David Warner the man. Australia's batting showed strength in numbers, a significant twist in the series narrative.

If England, by late yesterday, were looking for cover, Marsh was looking for the cover boundary. For long periods of his innings he simply waited for the ball to cover-drive. The lasting memories will feel like this: leave, leave, leave, cover-drive. Leave, leave, leave, leave. Leave ... cover-drive. Later, he unfurled a wider range of strokes and raised three figures with a swinging pull shot.

Having worked for so long to establish himself as an international cricketer, Marsh was also proving his worth as an umpire. While the man in white, New Zealand's Chris Gaffaney, was being overturned more often than a steak on a hotplate, the man in creams was making the decisions that the video referral system has turned into an increasingly critical part of the game. By declining to refer Peter Handscomb's lbw on the third ball of the day, and then by judiciously referring his own and then another for Tim Paine, Marsh was showing that his eye was in in more ways than one. This only added to the building exasperation for James Anderson, who managed to deceive batsmen and umpire but not the camera.

Marsh deceived pretty much everyone except the Australian selectors, his teammates and his supporters. That long-ago 100 in Kandy must have seemed easy. This was anything but, and all the more valued for it.