He needed that. For too long Stuart Broad has talked the talk of an expert commentator, which he will duly become after he has bowled his last ball for England, but he has not walked the walk of the strike bowler which Joe Root needed him to be in this time of Test transition.

Broad’s latest five-wicket haul might be too late as well: the Sydney Cricket Ground’s pitch, fine for batting at the start, is cutting up. But it was still a job well done, because Broad’s latest display of master-craftsmanship has shown there is life yet in this England team, and even if they take nothing away from Sydney, they have shifted the pendulum a little after their annihilation in Melbourne, and might still take something away from Hobart, if only a rain-affected, yet face-saving, draw.

There are also, it has to be conceded, five-fers and five-fers. A supreme example of the better kind was supplied by Broad himself, at Trent Bridge in 2015, when he held the ball aloft to the applause of all the cricket followers in England, and Wales, after taking his eight Australian wickets for only 15 runs and sealing the return of the Ashes. It was the perfect spell of red-ball seam-and-swing on a pitch offering a bit.

Five-fers when the 12th man has to fish the ball out of a stand to present it to you are not quite so glorious – yet, in this parlous state of English Test cricket, well worth having: in the absence of victories, individual honours have to suffice. Craig Overton had to retrieve the last ball of Australia’s innings, by Broad, from the stand at deep midwicket after Nathan Lyon had slogged it for six to prompt the declaration; and a five-fer when you do not collectively dismiss the opposition is bound to be less satisfying. But Broad can now leave Australia – or at least the mainland – and claim that he has never been taken apart there, he has always hung in, as 41 wickets at 35 prove.

It was about time, however, that Broad did perform. Last year, in 2021, in seven Tests, he took 12 wickets. His strike-rate was one wicket every 15 overs. And of course in the meantime, by taking the first new ball, and often the second which followed as a result of this failure to penetrate, he deprived a younger generation of pace bowlers of the experience, and of the advantages.

Instead, Broad became adept at being inconspicuous. He would purposefully march from mid-on to mid-off, talking to bowlers, and no doubt imparting valuable knowledge, but without pulling his own weight. James Anderson remains obsessed with his master-craftsmanship, still striving for the perfect spell; Broad seemed content to graze, on a central contract, as the competitive juices ebbed away. His strike-rate slumped to three-and-a-half wickets per Test, which leaves a lot of work for third and fourth seamers, not blessed with a new ball, and spinners.

At the time, and especially in retrospect, England missed Broad most in Chennai. It was only one year ago, although it feels like a decade, that Root was celebrating three Test victories abroad in a row – two in Sri Lanka, one in India – to make six in succession abroad, second only to a record run before the First World War. How could England slide from one extreme to the other? It was a downward spiral, and Broad played his part by ceasing to strike and penetrate.

Replacing Anderson for the second Test in Chennai, England, after losing the toss, needed a fiery statement to keep India down. Olly Stone, in only his second Test, bowled quick and was up for the fight. Broad bowled an opening spell of four overs, then disappeared. Fair enough, he lacked rhythm after almost a month without a match, but after that muted beginning you expected him to demand the ball for a second spell before lunch, or straight afterwards, as England’s senior bowler. Instead, Rohit Sharma took the game and the series away from England without being challenged to a duel, and they have remained under the cosh ever since.

Broad needs a deck: this is the fundamental difference between him and Anderson, who has learned how to make a ball talk in all conditions. And after being omitted at Brisbane, in a piece of non-selection that has already gone into the annals, and missing the boat at Adelaide by pitching too short and wide, Broad found one at the SCG on the second afternoon and in a six-over spell of English seam bowling at his best he dismissed Steve Smith.

Here at last Broad was kicking up his heels again, still fancying a contest at the age of 35, not prepared to go to the commentary box quietly. His record in England – 341 wickets at 25 – will always be superior to his stats abroad, but at least it was a statement, or a curtain call, before the end.