New beginnings

There is no doubt about it: Andrew Strauss' decision to take the match off, to balance out the withdrawal of Ricky Ponting, is a champion's gesture - but it now looks unwise, as Eoin Morgan comes to the crease with the score at 103-4.

He is little. As he walks past Mitchell Johnson towards the crease, the Australian thinks the Irishman is there to be pushed over by a barage of bouncers. For his part, Morgan is calm; there are 45,000 Australians pushing for either him, or his partner Ian Bell, to fail, but that doesn't really matter to him.

He knows Ben Hilfenhaus will try to exploit his perceived weakness outside off-stump. The Australian approaches the crease, his goatee beard glistening with Tasmanian sweat. He pushes the ball down the pitch, seam first; a fraction outside off-stump. Hilfenhaus has just started getting reverse swing and the ball might swing in; what should the diminutive Irishman do. He could defend - perhaps risking edging the ball to slip? Or defend - and risk losing his off-peg?

But before proceeding further, Morgan represents the truism that Hilfenhaus is a poor man's Paul Collingwood. He shuffles down the pitch, turning the ball into a half-volley, and clouts the ball over cover point to the boundary. He's away.

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After receiving a nod from Ponting, who has been guiding the Australian fielding display from the boundary, Michael Clarke throws the ball to Michael Beer. Not before time: against Australia's five fast bowlers, Bell and Morgan have got away and England are on 225 for 3.

Beer skips in. As his arm comes over, Bell wonders whether he should show the Australian some respect. But, the temptation proves too great to resist, and clouts Beer's first ball in test cricket straight into the Victor Trumper stand.

The ball eventually comes back to Beer. Xavier Doherty had warned him about the England batsmen. He knew it would not be easy. He skips in again, and tosses the ball slightly higher into the Sydney air. The ball lands, and spins off a puff of dust on a good length. This time, Bell is caught amidships. Neither forward, nor backwards, neither here, nor there. But this time, the ball is too good, and passes the outside edge of Bell's bat. No harm done to the England innings, but Beer has won a moral victory and proved himself a test match bowler to be reckoned with. Not Derek Underwood. Not Monty Panesar. But at least not Xavier Doherty either.

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Usman Khawaja asks Aleem Dar for his guard. England are on top: Phil Hughes has just been caught at fly-slip, in the first over of the Australia's reply to England's 412 all out.

"Come on boys," urges Paul Collingwood, acting as honorary captain on his final test match appearance, "he's probably better than Usman Afzaal, so let's give him the best we've got."

James Anderson's feet seem to bounce off the SCG's turf as he runs up to bowl. Then the leap; then the ball comes down. The ball is on a length, threatening the timbers and the outside edge. But in an instant Khawaja shows that he will be the one who balances the force, to guide Australia into the third golden age of Test Match Cricket. The left-handed rookie eases forward, and laconically shows the ball its path through the covers to the boundary. Back in the Sky Sports studio, the Nasser Hussain and Ian Botham chatter about the young man's bravado, but David Gower quietly smiles; it takes one to know one.

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In the end, Australia subside around Khawaja and are forced to follow on. They fare little better second time round, and in a result which has started to lose meaning by the time it is achieved, England defeat Australia by an innings and 43 runs. The ground is empty, but for a few thousand England supporters, as Andrew Strauss holds aloft the ceremonial replica of the urn.

At exactly that moment, an eighteen month old boy in South West London can't get to sleep. In his parents' living room, he finds his miniature cricket ball. Slightly intrigued, he picks up the ball, gripping the ball across the seam, in his index finger, second finger and thumb. He throws the ball away, but as he releases the ball England's greatest ever spin bowler rotates his wrist - just ever so slightly. He giggles, as he sees the ball bounce strangely off the carpet.