By Scott Heinrich

I wasn't too sure how to celebrate Glenn McGrath McGrath celebrates 100th Test

Pigs flew high and proud above the Gabba on Saturday as Glenn McGrath, yes Glenn McGrath, scored a Test half-century.

It was the event that was never really meant to happen. Besides McGrath himself, not many thought it would.

McGrath is the definitive number 11. A Pigeon by nickname, he may be a monster with the ball but he is a bunny with the bat.

Before Brisbane, 101 Tests and 114 innings had passed before he could do what he had longed to do for 11 years: raise his bat and absorb the applause.

It was fitting that McGrath should reach fifty for the first time against New Zealand, the nation he debuted against in 1993 when he showcased his batting talents with a golden duck.

"I don't know what it was but I just had a feeling today could be the day," the 34-year-old said after batting the Kiwis out of reach with a knock of 61 in the first Test.

McGrath sailed into previously unchartered waters with successive boundaries off Daniel Vettori.

"When I hit that, and realized it was going for four, it was a pretty good feeling," he added.

MCGRATH BATTING STATS Tests: 102; Innings: 115 Runs: 538 at an ave of 7.27 Not outs: 41; Ducks: 29 Oh...and 457 wickets at 21.8

"I wasn't too sure how to celebrate."

Shane Warne will celebrate by collecting a sum of money from Mark Waugh, who wagered some time ago that McGrath would never strike a Test fifty.

When McGrath hit his only previous first-class fifty for Worcestershire in 2000, he too won money from a team-mate who had foolishly thought the bet a wise investment.

The long road to vindication started some years ago, when the Aussie Test team applied the buddy system to batting training and former skipper Steve Waugh drew McGrath.

Waugh was a magician in most matters cricket, but when it came to McGrath there were no rabbits to be pulled out of the hat, and he eventually gave up, advising McGrath to try batting left-handed.

McGrath was having none of it, and he defends himself by never missing a chance to point out that batting last is not an easy job.

"I always believe number 11 is the most difficult position," McGrath said prior to his 100th Test appearance in Nagpur last month.

McGrath's team-mates will find it harder to knock his batting now

"There are times when you're hitting the ball well and the other guy gets out. There goes a 50."

McGrath was on his way in Nagpur when announcing his arrival at the crease with two hooked boundaries, but Michael Clarke left an in-form McGrath hanging when departing for 91.

After making 141 at the Gabba, Clarke looked on avidly as his fellow New South Welshman crafted a half-century, saying: "What an unbelievable day, that's close to the best thing I've ever seen in Test cricket."

What McGrath lacks at the crease he makes up for in application and self-belief; he values his wicket in a manner which belies his ability to protect it.

When given out, many number 11s will amble off the field and turn their focus to the new ball, but rarely McGrath.

If the dismissal is his fault, he can often be seen practising the shot all the way back to the dressing room. If it isn't, the familiar McGrath strop descends with an incredulous glance or two directed at the culpable umpire for good measure.

Perhaps he resents being mentioned in the same breath as fellow number 11 Courtney Walsh, who boasts the most ducks in Test history - McGrath is third - and who failed to score a fifty in 132 Tests.

McGrath has always known he is better than that, and now he has proven it. Now, McGrath has a half-century in the locker and a spanking new average that has nudged above seven for the very first time.

He also has a place in the record books as the 182nd Australian to score a Test fifty, with the added bonus of hanging around at the Gabba crease long enough to oversee last-wicket partner Jason Gillespie become the 183rd.