They could have smashed it around and strolled it, but what use would that have been? What use a walkover, drenched in all that flashy stuff that we’ve grown so complacent about in recent years? It wouldn’t have told us a bean.

Sure the punters would have enjoyed it, and walked away from the Kennington coliseum convinced that they’d just witnessed the World Cup winners. (OK, they will anyway.) But where the lessons behind the message? Lost in another riotous blaze of 360s, 380s and 400-plusses. Another day, another landmark, and none the wiser.

At tea, Sachin could be seen strolling around the outfield, flanked by a cohort of scurrying lanyards, as Kallis paraded his new hair to the crowd. Warne was here and there. Ganguly and Sehwag chatted at wide long-on. Stephen Fry, Freddie Flintioff and a chap practising his chords on a cricket bat guitar adorned the big screen. One-day cricket rarely feels vital. This felt vital. We’re away. And England really are the deal.