But back to the two Australian batsmen: Smith and Warner, again. Their mood during a two-hour partnership had been belligerently defensive, if there is such a thing. Each avoided scoring runs with spadesful of their buzzword, positive intent. They blocked lavishly, immoderately, their bats as straight as raised middle fingers. Australia's motivation was no longer to crush England in this match but to spoil their fun. Aggression had given way to bloody-mindedness.

And yet it remained Smith and Warner doing the dirty work. The lopsidedness of the scoreline in this series cannot conceal how brittle the Australian batting has been and how heavily they have relied on a narrow core of contributors. Even Friday was a groundhog half-day. Cameron Bancroft again looked like a good player but not persuasively a Test player, or not yet. Usman Khawaja, who is a proven Test player, provided a cameo of instability when calm was needed. To get off the mark, he ran down the wicket at Moeen Ali and lofted him for six. It wasn't "Get them before they get me" so much as "Before they get me, I'll get myself". Moments later, Khawaja's uncomfortable tenure came to a predictable end.

Smith and Warner remain the only sure bets in the Australian top seven. Shaun Marsh has had a good series, Mitch Marsh a good innings, and Peter Handscomb is running drinks. Tim Paine has emerged from the ruck as the best wicketkeeper in the country, but ironically, given the importance of run-scoring in distinguishing between glovemen, he has provided only just enough with the bat. Four years ago, six of the Australian top seven had made centuries by Melbourne. The workload was evenly spread. This time, not so. Australia began this summer with questions over two of their top seven. They reach the end of the Ashes series with questions over four.

In the bowling department, Australia have been well served by their top quartet, but James Anderson's query about depth was not out of place. He might have overlooked that James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile could have been chosen ahead of the unfortunate Jackson Bird, but without Mitchell Starc the Australian grand plan was like a novel without an ending. Australia are lucky to have four excellent fast bowlers (including Pattinson) reaching maturity together, but it's also possible that this is not a great golden age of pace or a statement of cultural strength, but just a historical coincidence with a dash of good management and good luck at the elite level.

That there hasn't been a great difference between these teams was also underlined by the moments of tension on this short day's play. The pitch was placid as the Sphinx, and may last as long, but England were prepared to fight every minute for their consolation prize. They bowled full and smart, and promise a tight finish if the weather allows.

Nerves and tempers were frayed by an accumulation of events over the previous month. Nobody trusts their ears any more, and Joe Root lost a DRS referral when he imagined he heard an edge. By the end of a series, trust is hard to come by all round. When England had been throwing the ball into the dirt, the umpires had a word with Root, who fired back, something along the lines of "They did it first" or "Cut us some slack here, have you seen this wicket?" Desperate times, desperate measures.

In any case, if England are to win from here, their bowlers are not going to have as much to do with it as the limits of the home batsmen's concentration. They will resume on Saturday knowing it will only take one batting lapse, from Smith or Warner, to light the fuse. As long as it's not wet.