The reporters gave the team and Fletcher the benefit of the doubt, though it would have made a story at home all right. In the next restaurant sat a group of travelling reporters – including this one. The players’ boisterousness was extremely close to the mark, several South African diners were unquestionably upset. In his reaction to the return of the Ashes, Fletcher too emphasised the importance of the team, and recalled a moment early in his tenure when the players had a team dinner in a Johannesburg restaurant on the tour to South Africa six years ago He said that it was an important bonding exercise “The team spirit was lacking when I joined That night in Johannesburg kicked off England cricket We were strangers and there were a lot of youngsters.

We had a singsong and away we went.” It might have been a foundation more fragile than Fletcher recalls. Improbable still, because while England were much-deserved winners who controlled and dominated large parts of the series, it should never be forgotten that Australia began as overwhelming favourites who burst into a 1-0 lead. Flintoff and Vaughan will receive most of the plaudits and honours going, which is as it should be. They performed the deeds, but everybody else contributed key components to the improbable defeat of the Australians. They grouped round Geraint Jones last week when exception was taken to an item in these columns. It was an unnecessary slight too far as well, and they said so. Not even Fletcher could have calculated that Flintoff would bestride the game at this precise moment.

Doubtless he suspected how far he could go, but the juxtaposition of Australia and Flintoff’s arrival at greatness was a piece of outrageously fortuitous timing. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a game without saying, ‘Oh, he should have been a bit squarer there’, and Fletcher is like that So’s Vaughan.” So are most of the people on board That is why Fletcher hired them or kept them. Maynard was speaking in the Long Room at Lord’s after the bus ride through London, the jubilant gathering in Trafalgar Square and the rendezvous with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street Tony Blair did not meet Andrew Flintoff Perhaps Mr Blair did not recognise him. Everyone else wants a piece of the all-rounder, but he will let them have it grudgingly. It is a risky statement to make, but Flintoff will not change from the engaging, honest, small-town boy he is No side, no gimmicks, all heart.

When the rest of the boys went clubbing on the night of the victory, Flintoff demurred. He was happy simply to stay at the bar and have a few (well, all right, a huge amount of) drinks. He is the best player and the ultimate team man in a squad that so obviously recognises the importance of the team. Not that any of them could have foreseen the breathtaking nature of the series.

A trawl through the records reveals no series like it for perpetual down-to-the- wire excitement. The 1894-95 series might have run it close (England led 2-0 after victories by 10 runs in the first, 94 runs in the second after being bowled out for 75, were pulled back to 2-2 and won the fifth). “Duncan Fletcher and me have a passion for the game,” said Maynard, who certainly got his current job because the pair spent time together at Glamorgan, when they were coach and captain “We don’t watch the game, we inspect it. England won because they played aggressive cricket, refusing to be cowed by a side with an awesome (in all senses) reputation.