Lyon, 36, took months to recover, and is now subject to a rigorous fitness regime to keep his calf limber – he also had his workload far more closely monitored than before. Another Australian in similar territory is Glenn Maxwell, 35, who now requires a specially tailored program after the freak broken leg that cost him most of the summer of 2022-23.

This is all to say that as cricketers enter their mid-30s, a poorly timed major injury means more than just a lengthy recovery. It can also add to the complexity of sustaining their performances on the field, and create an additional mental barrier.

Just ask Jonny Bairstow, victim of another freakish broken leg. He was not fully recovered when selected for last year’s Ashes, and struggled in the early exchanges as Australia took a 2-0 lead. While Bairstow improved as England did, he was nothing like the force of 2022, and has now lost his Test place. That process of devolution began by slipping over on the golf course.

Stokes, who battled his knee for a couple of years before giving in to surgery, was earnestly hoping to be good as new from hereon in, especially in terms of giving his all in every facet of the game in Australia.

“I know I’ve worked very hard to get myself into this condition,” Stokes said in January, having also lost 8-10 kilograms to lessen the load on his knee.

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“Hopefully it is something that will give me a little bit longer as we’re getting to that point – I’m 32 now, and sport and everything like that isn’t here forever. I want to play for England as long as I possibly can. The older you get, the harder you work.”

So the enormous frustration evident on his face at Old Trafford overnight was not just about that game, nor even the Sri Lanka Test series. It signified the realisation that at 33, Stokes may well have another extremely hard road ahead to be the sort of all-rounder England will need next summer.

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