England head coach Brendon McCullum dubbed this winter's Ashes as "the biggest series of our lives" as he said the XI for the first Test in Perth is yet to be decided.
England begin their bid for a first Ashes win away from home since 2010/11 - and first anywhere since the home triumph in 2015 -
against South Africa, albeit in the ODI format, has boosted his hopes of playing in the series opener, perhaps at the expense of vice-captain Ollie Pope at No 3.
Jofra Archer looks nailed on to feature, underscoring his importance to the side by taking 4-18 and after Bethell's breakthrough ton had powered England to a total of 414-5.
McCullum said when quizzed on the England XI that may take the field in Perth: "We will work that out in Australia. We've got a few other fish to fry before we get there.
"But, look, we've said about Jacob since we introduced him that he's got a huge future in front of him. He's very quickly taken to international cricket.
"Things have come really quickly for him as well. I want to celebrate the fact that his first ever professional hundred has been scored in the England jumper at the age of 21."
On Archer, McCullum added: "He's a proper cricketer, hence why we've taken our time with him to make sure that we give him every chance to be in the biggest series of all of our lives.
"He's going to be a huge player when we get to Australia, as a number of others are.
"That was an unbelievable spell," added McCullum, after Archer removed four of South Africa's top five inside the powerplay as the Proteas plummeted to 24-6 in 9.5 overs at the weekend.
"(He's) got quicker. It was box-office bowling... you didn't want to miss a ball.
"I thought it was brilliant and not just his pace but his skill, his ability to shift it both ways and to test batters with the steep bounce he gets."
Archer is in the squad for the three-match T20I series against South Africa, which starts in Cardiff on Wednesday (6.30pm first ball on SportNews Cricket) having not been rested like multi-format batters Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith.
McCullum said: "I think a lot of injuries happen when you almost down tools completely. We've had a good plan with Jof over the last little while and he's rewarded us for the type of planning we've had with performances like this one.
"I don't think we'll wrap him up per se, we'll just keep working with him on how he's going and work out what's best for him."
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