“England won the Ashes thanks to a couple of good first-innings bowling performances at Lord’s and The Oval. They won despite the statistics. Eventually the statistics of an endless summer have come home to roost.”

Indeed.

What is yet to come home to roost is the way England pushes the boundaries of sportsmanship. In the past two series we’ve had the question of how substitutes are used, the prepping of bowlers off the field before each of their spells, the use of certain sweets to tamper with the ball, and physios running onto the grounds uninvited and unneeded.

Now we have the question of whether visiting teams get the customary facilities prior to matches to prepare properly. Read this interview by Michael Clarke on the absence of available nets before the Oval test and ask yourself this — if such a thing had befallen England down under, wouldn’t there have been just a hint of public controversy about how it contravenes the much trumpeted spirit of cricket?