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“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” And so they will. Pity Michael Clarke in his team’s best Test match for months, even now circling the drain.
Score a century in an iconic win and you can advertise air-conditioners for years to come. Even saving a thrilling draw brings glory: Ricky Ponting’s rearguard from this ground in 2005 has been enforced viewing during every rain delay.
Michael Clarke’s 187 at Old Trafford this week was just as good: leading a team 2-0 down in as many matches, close to equalling a century-old losing streak, laughed at for suggesting he aimed to win the series, there was a pallbearing weight on Clarke’s shoulders.
Walking to the crease at 2/82 after electing to bat, his early dismissal could have seen another slide to a sub-200 score.
Instead, he took it to 6/427 by the time he departed, including 214 in partnership with Steve Smith.
Australia declared on 527, having put themselves in a dominant position, and set about the long job of propelling England toward defeat.
But with the final crucial day to play, Australia’s Ashes challenge was gradually smudged away by damp Manchester skies. So too will the performances in this match disappear from public memory.
Few will remember with any vividness the eight hours Clarke spent at the crease, or the 23 boundaries.
They won’t think of Smith’s supporting 89, new man Chris Rogers’ strong statement with 84, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Starc’s unbeaten 60s in a fine pre-declaration partnership.
Gone too will be the hard work and early venom of Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris, shocking England as Australia pushed for that final-day win, and the attainment of one more five-wicket haul for Graeme Swann.
Only Kevin Pietersen’s 113 might linger a little longer in the cranial lobes, identified as the innings that saved England from the chance of defeat before heavenly powers could have interceded.
It was on the flat of his blade and the smug of his smirk that the Ashes were delivered.
Nonetheless, it’s an anticlimax to celebrate a retention based on a series draw. I thought it as Australia fought to reach 2-2 at the Oval in 2005, and I think it now.
The trophy may no longer be an issue, but the series remains alive. Given Australia’s performance in this match, it’s far more alive than we had expected.
The assumption of a gulf between the teams, one I made myself, looks suddenly strange when you realise that Australia have been in extremely strong positions in two of three matches.
A few more runs in Nottingham and some different timing of condensation here, and the scoreline could have been 1-2. Large defeats can still happen within competitive series, when a bad session can kill a team’s chance in a match.
What has not inspired hope is the official handling of the conditions. Bad weather is something cricket has to work around. The effect of rain on the pitch means it must be avoided, and the world’s cricket can’t be played at Melbourne’s second stadium.
But forever and a day, the way of dealing with rain and bad light has been wasteful, slow, and disrespectful for all concerned.
The ultimate priority of the game’s governors and its umpires should be to play as much of any Test as humanly possible. Players, spectators, broadcasters, viewers and listeners deserve every possible over.
To have four great days of cricket spoiled by a few hours of precipitation is like abandoning your new extension because you can’t get the right colour paint.
Last night, 35 pre-rain minutes were lost because of light so poor that the batsmen were scoring at six an over. They begged to stay on.
This morning, the chance to start early was lost because of pre-match rain, a shower which took an inordinately long time to recover from. Aiming to start at 10:30, players finally took the field an hour later.
Then incredibly, after only 90 minutes of play, the umpires signalled lunch at the scheduled time.
The sky was still clear. The radar showed heavy clouds coming our way. Instead of making use of the conditions, and factoring in the late starting time, we enjoyed our sandwiches in a gloriously dry atmosphere, before the rain began on cue toward the end of the break.
Whether the umpires have any discretion here isn’t the point. They should. On days like this, the aim should be to play as long a session as is fair to the fielding side while conditions hold out.
Up to two and a half hours would be reasonable. England’s players rotate off the field so frequently that they wouldn’t notice in any case.
Play could have gone on until 7:30, but was called off at 4:40 in the afternoon. By about 5:30 it was clear and dry. The clouds drifted away. For the last two evenings, a west-facing press corps has squinted to type their tales of rain with the sun in their eyes.
Even now, a glorious golden sunset burns like the fires of Smaug out behind the temporary grandstand, while streaks of white-gold cloud strike out across a sky of pale Renaissance blue.
Bullshit, I want to say to the sky. It’s very pleasant for all that, as everything bar today’s events has been in Manchester. The facilities at Old Trafford are the best of any ground we’ve visited, the locals exceedingly friendly.
Even the guy I met in a pub with a sawn-off shotgun stuffed down his pants was more interested in showing it off than using it, though he did seem to think it necessary to point it at me for emphasis whenever he spoke about it. Our conversation moved in a kind of mutual orbit.
As unlikely as it is that he reads Australian sports websites, it will be a relief to move on to Durham.
This result has given Australia back some belief, as it has those of us who follow them. England attaining its primary goal may seem them slack off just a little.
Jimmy Anderson showed his first signs of flagging, and England’s bowling back-ups are not as strong as the opposition’s.
So who knows. A series draw is a nice thought, however distant it may be. At the very least, we’ve put away the spectre of 5-0 and 10-0.
The first job, then, is to win the next Test match. If that happens, you can be sure Australians will remember who got us there.