No sensible judgements could be drawn, but on the back of this game England picked Ollie Pope ahead of Jonny Bairstow for the first Test. Rain did not help, of course, but having agreed such a tight schedule, England were always hostages to fortune. Rain forced bowlers to try and attune to Australia indoors, instead of on the rock-hard pitches, and batsmen had to become accustomed to the bounce against bowling machines, and coaches with dog throwers. Why England, so badly undercooked, then batted first in Brisbane is a question that will haunt Root and Silverwood.

Even once the series had started, the spectre of Covid hung over the tour. Players have become wearily used to PCR testing but even their patience snapped in Sydney when they were forced to undergo a much more invasive procedure because the testing clinics were unable to turn around normal PCR tests in time.

This procedure involved a swab going up the nose and down the back of the throat in one go and is not very pleasant. Some players refused to do it, others did it and then made a stand saying they would not let their partners and young children go through the same procedure. It led to the biggest row between players and management of the whole tour and was only resolved by the resumption of normal PCR testing for those who refused.

Selection

When the issue of England’s awful selections for the first two Tests was put to Silverwood, he replied that the series was “a marathon, not a sprint”.

He was wrong. An Ashes tour is like an 800m race: you sprint and hope you can hang on long enough. Fall behind in Australia and it is all over. England mistakenly thought they could copy India’s success in 2021 and make it a squad game, but they lacked the depth and leadership to make that happen.

England left out James Anderson and Stuart Broad in Brisbane, with concerns over their fitness. While Anderson was understandable, Broad – even if he had only just returned from an ankle injury – was ready to play on a green pitch that was more befitting his home ground of Trent Bridge than the Gabba.

Unleashing him against David Warner, his ‘bunny’ from 2019, seemed a no-brainer and yet England picked Jack Leach ahead of him. Only Mark Wood, briefly, went round the wicket to Warner on the first morning. As soon as Broad did so in Melbourne and Sydney – when it was far too late – Warner’s threat declined and he ended with a pair.

Had England bowled first and thrown their own bowlers at an equally undercooked Australia they may have gained an early foothold. Instead Root – who regularly pokes fun at Nasser Hussain for bowling first in Brisbane in 2002 – wanted to be bold and send a message by batting first. And so batsmen who had mainly netted indoors were bowled out for 147. There was no way back.