What a spur, tonic or boost. Instead of Perth, where the fifth Test was originally due to be staged, England will play at Bellerive Oval in Hobart. It will become the 76th ground in the world where England have played a Test, and the sixth in Australia, and, above all, the most English of those Australian grounds.

Hobart can be hot in summer but not after dark. Its southerly latitude is that of New Zealand. As it is a pink-ball Test being played under floodlights, there might even be a nip in the air before close of play, and some nip in the pitch is exactly what England need if they are going to conclude their tour with a morale-saving win.

Like Australia’s main Test grounds apart from Sydney, Bellerive Oval lies beside a river but the Derwent is far bigger than the others, ready to receive ocean liners. The nicest way to commute is by ferry from the harbour in the centre of Hobart, where there are some lovely stone buildings – stores, warehouses, two-storey late-Georgian and early-Victorian cottages – to the newer suburb of Bellerive with its bungalows, driveways, back lawns and barbecues.

The old Hobart ground where England used to play in Tasmania was on the old side of town, in the Domain or parkland, and on top of a hill where it was difficult to access water: a ramshackle old ground full of character, like somewhere in the Peak District, perhaps Buxton or Matlock Spa. This was where Jack Simmons, the Lancashire allrounder, put Taswegian (or Tasmanian) cricket on the map by winning the inter-state one-day knock-out competition, so that Tasmania had to be granted Sheffield Shield status in 1977.