Over the past eight days you would have been forgiven for thinking all English Ashes hopes were lost.

Ben Stokes' side were pummeled in Perth, where they supposedly had to win to have any chance of winning back the urn.

Up next? The Gabba, where England always lose, and the pink ball, which turns Mitchell Starc into some sort of Wasim Akram-Glenn McGrath-Mister Fantastic hybrid.

You may as well forget the early-morning alarms and concentrate on the snooker.

Not quite.