“Sometimes the ups are great if you don’t really understand the downs. And I just tried to,for me,just be patient and to know that at some point,there’ll be another up. So whether that’s cricket or life or anything in general,that’s a big part of it. And then on the field,I just like to bat. But that’s where the patience comes from.”

Australia were also forced to stand their ground when England began the match in a Bazball flurry,scoring 8-393 before declaring with half an hour to play on day one.

“Honestly,it can be quite tough work when they’re going out and scoring runs at that click and it’s so unnatural,” Khawaja said. “It’s Test cricket that none of us have really faced before.

“On the field,sometimes even I love it. I think it’s kind of entertaining. You see Joe Root coming out and trying to reverse lap one first ball of the day yesterday[Monday],on day four. I mean,20 years ago,he would have been dropped just for playing that shot,like he seriously would have been dropped.

“And when you see that you laugh,but then he actually hits one,then hits another one. And it’s like,that’s pretty cool. So I respect how they’re playing their cricket right now. And the proof’s in the pudding. They’ve won a lot of cricket based on the way they’re playing.

“But at the same time,we’ve got two very good teams and Test match cricket is not abouthow you win. It’s about winning or losing. It all comes down to that in the end.

“When a team is flying,going six runs an over,it can be quite tough. You need to hold your nerve. Luckily,there are some really good bowlers and some older heads in the team that can hopefully hold on better than,I guess,some other younger cricketers that they may have come across in the past.”

The big question now is whether England can hold their nerve with Bazball after dominating much of the match but failing to put Australia away.

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