Cricketers are often thought to be ‘making history’ when all they are doing is creating statistics. England’s Lord’s coup d’etat after Australia’s 75-year occupation, however, was genuine history, and the press conferences afterwards were held, suitably, in the theatrette of the Lord’s Museum – with emphasis on the ‘ette’ because that was no room to swing a bat. Ricky Ponting wore whites and his baggy green, a nice touch; Andrews Flintoff and Strauss preferred something a little more corporate casual, with sponsors’ hats prominent. Having not seen Flintoff for four years in such a pose – relaxed in victory mode – it was a reminder both of his physical presence and the acute deference towards him of the English media. Even they, red in tabloid tooth and claw, seemed abashed by his accomplishments in this game, or at least his ability to come up to the mark so soon after announcing that he would shortly be leaving marks behind altogether. Likewise the man of the match adjudicators, who must have swung their votes late away from Strauss despite his being the defining innings of the game.

What was obvious overlooking Lord’s on the last day was how important England’s victory is in the context of a series trying to recapture the glories of 2005 without quite the same talent or star quality available, and with no free-to-air television audience. Already can be heard the ominous rumblings of the oncoming Premier League season. The opportunity in this context to celebrate Flintoff is a tonic for cricket here, and in particular for Test cricket, which the worthies of the Marylebone Cricket Club world cricket committee warned just before the game was in danger of perishing from neglect.

The problem for English cricket, of course, is the lack of a replacement for Flintoff, now known, as it were, to be on his farewell tour. Not merely on the field but off, he will leave a capacious hole. Stuart Broad has as yet neither the cricket smarts nor the capacity to cultivate stubble. It’s hard to believe now, but there will be cricket after the Ashes, and the eventual winner may not be the one best placed for the future.