“Mentally and physically, it was quite a lot in three weeks, going from county cricket into that. And with the potential for more stuff to come, it was nice to have just an extra week of a breather basically.

“Test cricket’s definitely more intense. The games didn’t go five days, so it was very short compared to what people were expecting and what I was expecting, but for me it was just mentally quite draining. It probably took more out of me than I was expecting, with all the emotions that came with it, and the expectation and a bit of added pressure.

“It just was nice to have a little bit more of reflection time rather than just roll onto the next event and then the next one and suddenly you don’t really have a chance to look back and reflect on what you did well and what I’ll be looking to improve for the next series and beyond hopefully.”

‘Batting at No 6 doesn’t bother me’

Smith looks set to become a central figure across formats in the coming months. With Stokes out injured, he could be promoted to No 6 against Sri Lanka next week.

“It won’t bother me at all,” he said. “One of the things that’s been great in my career so far is I feel like I’ve batted in a variety of different positions and roles anyway, and I’ve gained some of these experiences.

“They might be a lesser level in the County Championship, but I still feel like I’ve been able to adapt and have some experience under my belt and the difference between seven and six isn’t massive anyway.”

In this season’s Vitality Blast, no other batsman scored even 150 runs at a strike-rate of 200. Smith made 285 at a strike-rate of 205, meaning he is almost certain to be involved with England’s white-ball squad against Australia next month. He has two ODI caps, but is yet to play a T20 international. The trouble will be managing his workload in a crammed schedule.