No doubt Andy Flower, England’s dedicated team director, will have had time between the Mumbai and Calcutta Test matches to watch some of South Africa’s series-clinching victory against Australia in Perth.
If so, he will feel a lot better about England’s chances of retaining the Ashes at home next summer, perhaps less so about their hopes of holding on to them in Australia the following winter.
To win in Australia again the chances are that, with the gap between the great rivals closing, England would have to avoid a repeat of their third Test defeat in Western Australia last time. The Waca ground at Perth, with its flies and vivid light, remains uniquely fast, true and bouncy.
For Australia it represents a virtually guaranteed home