Bowled through the gate by off-spin, a form of bowling about which he has been brutally sceptical, Steve Smith shook himself out of his bubble of disbelief in time to clap the batsman coming onto the Sydney Cricket Ground to replace him.

It was 1.24pm and Usman Khawaja was on the arena.

Australia were 3-92 and yet to stumble into the pit of panic from which, eventually, they would crawl out triumphantly. Khawaja blinked away the sunlight and walked across the stencil in front of the Members Stand that said: “Thanks Uzzy #419”.

The English players formed a generous guard of honour. The umpires, Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, broke character and probably some convention of impartiality to applaud Khawaja to the centre square, where Marnus Labuschagne was waiting with a hug.

Khawaja had found it tough to concentrate in his first innings, and he later spoke of how difficult it was to maintain focus throughout this match. His........

© The Sydney Morning Herald