England’s tour of Australia ended in surreal fashion, with a browbeaten side recovering their vigour to win the Commonwealth Bank one-day series and Duncan Fletcher extolling the words of Mother Teresa as his inspiration during the bleakest period of the Ashes winter.

The maturing of Ricky Ponting has been a long and uncertain process, but if Australia survive the unrest of their campaign to lift the trophy, it may be time to proclaim that the journey is complete.