Personally I don’t buy into the hysteria being spread by the likes of David Koch on Sunrise or in the faithless press. (The loss to Bangladesh was far from embarrassing – it was fantastic, couldn’t have been better. It was, surely, an aberration and an aberration in a truly irregular series of aberrations, but frankly it was just great). When it comes to cricket one should never let faith desert oneself with any degree of rapidity. Faith must be eroded away like a rock. The work the Australian team has put in over the last 20 years has lead to an immense form, the belief in which can not be let go of lightly. Still, I am well aware there are times when reassurance is required.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, in the lead up to his tour of the Forest of Cedar to battle the ogre Humbaba, Gilgamesh has a series of 5 terrible nightmares – mountains rise up and fall upon him, and pin him down. On waking from each he is comforted by Enkidu who convinces him to go on and to rid himself of the fear that has been set in him. I have no doubt that Jason Dizzy Gilgamesh Gillespie’s nightmares are about to come to end, his Enkidu has been working hard and Dizzy will smite Humbaba in the neck. Dizzy will no longer be restrained by the weight of the mountain or the difficulty of moving underground, he will lead the Australian team to the usual glorious victory.