Since his big operation on his left knee injury in November, Stokes has looked so physically fit, having lost 10kg, that it has been easy to forget that he is now 33. He looks after himself extremely well, whether in his training or gym-work, or the way he now balances the formats. He really picks and chooses his white-ball cricket now (what luck that he picked up this injury playing the Hundred?), turning down big IPL paydays and withdrawing from the T20 World Cup to focus on his primary task, leading the Test team. But he is now at the age where muscle injuries like these become increasingly common, and take longer to recover from. Many previous injuries across 100 Tests, all played at 100mph, do not help a jot.

Whether as the totemic leader or the side-balancing all-rounder, he remains their most important player for the Ashes down under, and this injury is a reminder that he will need nursing all the way there. Even after that serious operation, careful management may not be enough for him to make it.

Curran would be a classic Bazball pick. As they showed when plucking Moeen Ali from retirement to play in last year’s Ashes, or promoting Dan Lawrence to open, they will select who they believe to be the best attacking-minded players, regardless of recent experience. Form can be shown in white-ball cricket, and Curran has certainly done that; he has been the best player in this year’s Hundred by some distance, sitting seventh in the run-scoring charts and second in the wicket-taking table.

He has played just one first-class match in the last two years, but is a victim of the different directions the game pulls players now. If you want to be a white-ball regular for England and pick up the sort of IPL payday Curran commands (which are almost impossible to turn down), being available for the County Championship becomes very difficult. As he recovered from a back stress fracture, Curran played five matches in Surrey’s title win in 2022, and averaged 76 with the bat, including making his maiden first-class hundred.

Curran’s batting is much improved and, as he shown in the Hundred this year, he is a little like Stokes in that the more responsibility he is given, the better he does. Slotting in at No 7, between Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes, would seem to suit him.