All it took to provide Australian cricket with some respite from a deep, ugly and divisive crisis was for England to have a bat in Perth.

As England were bowled out for 131 on the way to a seven-wicket defeat, they lifted the mood of a cricket nation at war with itself. Before the cricket even began, Friday 13th had given us Pat Cummins’s instant classic press conference , then a sharp return from David Warner, who accused the captain of “throwing Usman Khawaja under the bus”. But, for just a few hours, the warring factions downed their weapons for an honest bit of Pom-bashing.

It was all eerily similar to the events of 12 months ago in this great arena, where England were blitzed inside 32.5 and 34.4 overs to lose a Test – and their belief that they could win back the Ashes – in two heady days. The role of Travis Head, who was bowled for a golden duck this time, was taken by Mitchell Marsh, who crunched sixes at will during his 30-ball fifty.…