ACCORDING to those who worry about such things, Marcus North has beaten East, West and South to become the first point on the compass to play Test cricket. By mid-afternoon yesterday, as Australia heaped humiliation on to embarrassment, the left-hander had so disoriented England that finding their way back to London for the second npower Test will be an achievement for Andrew Strauss’s bedraggled team, let alone navigating their way out of their jam in Cardiff.

North recorded his second century in three Tests, putting on 200 with Brad Haddin, who hit a rollicking 121. Thank goodness his talents have been surplus to requirements for so long. North will turn 30 this month and has passed through five counties — Durham, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire and Hampshire — and two northern league sides — Gateshead Fell and Colne — on his way to a belated Test debut last winter in South Africa.

So brief was his spell at Hampshire this season that his sponsored car was standing unused in the car park as North jetted off to join his Australian teammates for an international against Pakistan.

A few up and down the county circuit could have warned England of North’s prowess with the bat. In three of his county seasons, he averaged more than 50. The only consolation for home supporters is that he had the good sense to marry a girl from Tyneside.

Like North, Haddin has had to wait an eternity for the chance to play Test cricket. Unlike North, who has replaced the disgraced Andrew Symonds, he was accompanied into Test cricket by a very large shadow. If understudying Adam Gilchrist was a test of patience, replacing him in the Australian side was a test of character. But Haddin’s batting, all bright and breezy, reflects a sunny temperament and he has not taken long to make his own space in a remodelled Australian side.

Haddin had watched the 2005 debacle from the safety of the tourists’ balcony, though the hurt was clearly still raw. From the first ball yesterday, he bristled with intent. Though starting 50 runs adrift of North, he had almost caught him by the time a lofted drive off Paul Collingwood fell to Ravi Bopara midway through the afternoon session. By then, Australia were 239 runs ahead and England were looking to the hills for salvation.

North and Haddin clearly relish each other’s company at the crease, an ideal combination of left-hand and right-hand, height and style that forces bowlers to adjust line and length, giving them no chance to find a rhythm. Strauss tried any number of ploys to counter the steady flow of runs. Some of them, such as posting a mid-on, wide mid-on and wide midwicket to block Haddin’s legside tendencies, worked for an over or two. But at no point did the England captain find a bowler capable of exerting control.

Brought up on the bouncy wickets of the Waca in Perth, North uses the pace of the ball to deflect and guide, no mean feat on a low, slow pitch in Cardiff, but intersperses his delicate touches with thumping straight drives and, considering he is an unathletic-looking man, surprisingly balletic pull shots. Haddin, as so many wicketkeepers do, pulls and cuts with relish. England’s chance of a wicket seemed to come from the mismatch of Haddin’s scurrying and North’s more sedate running between the wickets. Had James Anderson manned the stumps as all schoolboys are taught, Haddin would have been run out by a yard when he had scored 19. But Anderson was stationed in front of the stumps as Alastair Cook’s throw from the deep caught Haddin by surprise and the chance was gone.

North celebrated his century face down in the dirt after scampering a two off Anderson, rising to envelop Haddin in a bear hug and raise his bat to the Australian balcony.

Haddin raced to his century shortly afterwards and was the dominant member of an increasingly jaunty partnership. No Gilchrist, Warne or McGrath, but Haddin and North epitomise the new Australia, two grown-up cricketers with an unerring sense of direction.