Its most ugly manifestation took place in the Lord’s Long Room and staircase at the lunch break 15 minutes later,with Usman Khawaja compelled to call out separate instances of abuse directed his way among the throng of wider insults hurled at all the Australian players and staff.

That ill-feeling was further wound up by England after some tense moments between Bairstow and the Australians in the lunchroom. Brendon McCullum,famed for his love of a social beer,claimed that the hosts would not be having one with the tourists anytime soon. Stokes,for his part,said Pat Cummins should have put more pressure on the umpires and withdrawn his appeal.

These exchanges fired up Bairstow,who improved as the series went on,but also cowed the amiable Carey,who had started the series strongly but lost poise and confidence under a hail of targeted bullying by spectators and social media warriors.

Among the lowest points for that subplot was the propagation of a false story by former England captain Alastair Cook,commentating on the BBC,that Carey had his hair cut in Leeds and left without paying. In truth,Carey had not seen a barber since London in the early weeks of the tour,but that made little difference to the tabloids.

Eventually,the affair was touched upon by the highest levels of the Australian and British governments,albeit in more light-hearted manner than the angry exchange of cables witnessed during the 1932-33 Bodyline series. Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak indulged in a game of cringe banter that culminated in the latter’s quip that he was sorry he “didn’t bring any sandpaper”.

Prime ministerial awkwardness is probably not what Stokes had in mind when he assessed the impact of the series,but it spoke to the fact that five memorable Tests in six weeks had definitely struck a nerve for a format that constantly has its future debated. Stokes hoped it would be the heart-starter the game needs.

“Over the last seven weeks,in particular,we’ve managed to drag a new audience towards Test cricket,” Stokes said. ”I think this series is genuinely what Test cricket needed – two high-quality teams going at it toe-to-toe and the cricket has been something you couldn’t take your eyes off. Every session has been its own game.

“We’ve been in control,then Australia have been in control. Everyone who’s turned up to the games and bought a ticket has really enjoyed their days of cricket. That’s all you can ask for as someone who pays money to come and watch an international spot.

“I really hope we’ve inspired a new generation. I look back to 2005 and what that series did for me as a young person,and I really hope there’s someone who’s the age I was then and says:‘That’s what I want to be doing when I’m 21 or 22.’ ”

Cummins felt a similar sense of the moment:“It has been one of the best things about the past eight weeks. Just walking around the streets,you always expect one idiot every now and then,but there hasn’t been any. Everyone has been amazing – just talking about the cricket,and how much they love it. I know it is the same back in Australia.”

Broadcast audiences told the tale. The coverage consistently passed the one-million-viewer mark in Australia,bigger numbers on average than those seen on the UK,where cricket is behind the Sky paywall. Game-day tickets at the English venues were perpetually in short supply – as many touts outside requested spare passes as those who could offer any for sale.

The cricket they watched was endlessly enthralling,and ideal for social media clips and memes – the other way through which sport is increasingly consumed. The erudite Vithushan Ehantharajah,of ESPNcricinfo,rightly dubbed it the “content Ashes”.

Of course,the ultimate polarisation of this series came in the form of the modes of play chosen by the two sides. England’s bold,“Bazball” aggression got smarter and more calculated as the series progressed,after Australia capitalised on the home side’s overeagerness to take a defining 2-0 lead at Edgbaston and Lord’s.

Partly this was down to selection – England had the quickest bowler on show in Mark Wood,and he proved a perfect counterpoint to the consistency and skill of Chris Woakes once the pair were recalled together in Leeds.

As much as the batting approaches of the two sides were summed up by the great divide in how the two leading scorers Usman Khawaja (496 runs from 1263 balls faced) and Zak Crawley (480 from 541) made their runs,the bowling was also a study in contrasts.

Under Stokes,England were nimble and unceasing in how they posed questions for the Australian batters,often getting wickets after a partnership had developed simply because they refused to start dropping fielders out. Under Cummins,the Australians were much more static,relying on the excellence of their bowlers rather than much in the way of think-on-your-feet planning.

This reflected something else:for all the questions posed by Bazball,none were bigger for Australia than how to handle the unexpected absence of Nathan Lyon. His loss was a shock for Cummins in the same way the Brexit vote had been in the United Kingdom,or the election of Donald Trump in the United States.

The passage of the remaining three and three-quarter Test matches were like watching those countries wrestle with the flow-on effects of such outcomes,as the debates among partisan observers on both sides grew increasingly heated.

English supporters,ever more loudly,proclaimed that Australia were “rattled”,which is not quite the same as being beaten but sounds like it. Australians saved some of their harshest critiques not for England but for Cummins and his tactics,although the greatest problem for the tourists tended to be their inability to form big batting partnerships.

That conclusion was brought home on the final evening,as a promising Australian platform collapsed under the weight of fourth innings chase history,the moving Dukes ball and Stuart Broad’s knack for the theatrically brilliant.

It had been Broad who sledged Carey with the words “that’s all you’ll be remembered for” after he had stumped Bairstow.

A month later,Broad will hope that at the very least Carey is also remembered as his final Test wicket. Edging to who else but Bairstow behind the stumps,Carey’s exit closed out the Ashes and set up another two years of spirited,polarised debate before England tour Australia.

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