He started the season with the most-ever runs by a batsman on first-class debut, but Travis Dean's final main act of his maiden season could help win Victoria the Sheffield Shield.
Dean batted for more than five hours on the second day on Sunday, and his 111 helped Victoria reach 4-269 at stumps and achieve a slight edge over their South Australian rivals at Glenelg's Gliderol Stadium.
They still trail by 71 runs going into the third day, but with seven wickets in hand, Dean's ton could prove to be even more defining than the two he scored on debut again Queensland at the MCG.
"Hopefully we get the win here and the Shield final one will stand out," he said.
"That was a long time ago when that happened.
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"So I proved to myself and to my teammates (today) that I deserved to be there."
With the exception of a 67-ball burst where he racked up his second 50, Dean was particularly circumspect on a pitch that offered South Australia's quicks plenty of movement under low cloud cover.
The 24-year-old lost Rob Quiney (23) early, and became the rock of the innings when Marcus Stoinis (35) became the second man to be dismissed by a short ball from Redbacks quick Daniel Worrall (3-51).
But Dean batted with composure and rarely looked troubled as LBW appeals regularly followed balls beating the bat at the other end.
"I'm a very limited player. I don't have many shots. I try and stick to my game plan. It's pretty simple," he said.
"Play your natural game, which is take time out of the game and face as many balls as I possibly can and ... the runs will eventually come.
Dean combined with Peter Handscomb for a vital 140-run third wicket partnership before he edged Redbacks quick Elliot Opie through to wicketkeeper Alex Carey with 10 overs left in the day.
Handscomb, who was dominant off the back foot, remains unbeaten on 79, but the Bushrangers lost captain Matthew Wade to a Worrall inswinger four overs before stumps with the second new ball.
Nightwatchman Scott Boland (five not out) was also lucky to see the close when Worrall had him edging to gully in the second-last over, but the chance was dropped by Sam Raphael.
Earlier, Victorian quick Chris Tremain (3-73) cleaned up the South Australian tail to have the home team dismissed for 340 within the first four overs of the second day.
Alex Ross (72), wicketkeeper-batsman Carey (50) and rookie opener Jake Weatherald (66) hit half-centuries for the Redbacks.
