Having started the summer looking to put a 4-1 Ashes loss behind them, England plunged straight into controversy after winning the summer’s first Test against New Zealand when Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson broke team protocol. Stokes would eventually retire as Test captain at the end of that series, which New Zealand took 2-1, before Brendon McCullum was sacked as Test head coach weeks later.

With Root returning to the captaincy after giving it up in 2022 after a five-year stint, he found himself addressing yet more off-field misdemeanours when Brydon Carse was filmed being arrested in Derby on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. Carse, playing for Durham at the time, was part of the Test squad and was subsequently stood down. Derbyshire Police are still investigating an assault connected to the incident, though Carse’s involvement or otherwise remains unclear.

“There’s been a lot of chaos around this series before a ball was bowled,” Root said in his final press conference of the summer. “I think the way we’ve handled it on and off the field, the way everyone understands what is expected of them – both as a player and how we want to carry ourselves – is a really good thing. The start of the series we wanted 3-0 and we’ve been clinical enough to do that.

“It’s been a very unusual summer, hasn’t it? That’s probably a better way of putting it. There’s been a lot of different things happen. We had a resignation mid series, there has been a few off field incidents and we’ve got a new coach.

“Whether you call it chaos, whether you call it unusual, whether you call it unsettling, all are fair. But ultimately, the thing that I care about, and that’s most important, is what happens from that. And I think the way that we’ve responded to that has been excellent. And the fact that there’s now clarity in what is expected of the group moving forward is quite evident, and we build on that now.”

New Test head coach Stephen Fleming is due to arrive in the UK over the next 48 hours, taking over fully from Marcus Trescothick, who operated as interim head coach against Pakistan. Fleming has been in constant conversation with Root throughout the series, and the pair will meet later next week to discuss future plans.

Bowlers have dominated the three Tests at Headingley, Lord’s and Edgbaston, with Ollie Robinson the standout player of the series with 21 wickets at an average of 8.76.

None of the 20 fifty-plus scores across the Tests have been centuries, with England finishing the summer with a single hundred from six Tests. That was Ben Duckett’s 113 at the Trent Bridge, though the opener has returned just 44 runs at 8.8 in five innings since.

“I think the way England are able to exploit the seaming conditions, the likes of Ollie Robinson, I think he can expose any top order if he gets these conditions,” Hesson said, after agreeing with a question as to whether such pitches would help England reclaim the urn for the first time since 2015.

“I think England are probably better equipped to dealing with that, with a Dukes ball, than they are on a flat one. I think within those four seamers that England have got, I think they certainly enjoy a little bit of movement on the ball, especially off the wicket. And I think Australian batsmen can deal with swing, but probably seamers, you know, obviously [are] a bit harder to deal with.”

When put to Root that tailoring pitches may scupper Australia, he jokingly protested having finished the summer century-less, averaging 33.50 with just three fifties. But he conceded similar conditions would need England’s batters to adjust, too, not just those of their arch rivals.

“It ebbs and flows. There’s been times when that has happened, I mentioned the ball previously and it’d be interesting to see if there is different science behind how they’ve made it this year to keep it in shape for longer. You’ve got to adapt and find ways of managing that.

“We’ve seen it in Australia, when I first went there it was all about mental disintegration and lateral movement. Can you be more patient than the opposition and grind teams down? The game evolves and you’ve got to evolve with it.

“If that’s how it’s going to be moving forward, we’ve got to move too.”