It’s a long way from Edgbaston to Karachi, but that’s where my thoughts were turning after Australia’s last-gasp victory in an unbearably tense, always thrilling, wonderful Ashes Test on Tuesday. Ominously for England, Australia’s three best batsmen, and the three best in the world, misfired simultaneously over five days. But they still managed to win. Oh well…

Anyway, we were at the Sind Club ground on a cricket tour to Pakistan. It hadn’t been that long since the Sri Lankans had been shot up in Lahore so there was still a bristling police presence at our game, reassuringly unsmiling blokes wielding very large submachine guns. Pakistan being a country where everyone loves cricket, and seems to play it pretty well too, our team of journalists and club players were heavily outclassed. A steady stream of our men were despatched back to the pavilion with a polite pat on the back from our opponents: ‘Bad luck, well played sir.’ Until the end…

One of our team was an impeccably behaved, and seriously honoured, gentleman of the old school, a charming man whose presence always lifted the spirits. But he recognised that his best days were behind him. Gamely he went out to bat, smartly dressed and politely greeting the opposition with a smiling ‘Good afternoon’. He loved cricket, but he wasn’t that good at it. Soon he was out, clean bowled. The fielders leapt in the air with a fierce roar, pointing our man back to the pavilion, and the air was filled with some guttural Pakistani oaths. You couldn’t have asked for a nicer man – or a less threatening cricketer – to take a barrel of abuse. Baffling, and funny. It was as if Jeff Thomson had flattened Colin Cowdrey’s stumps.

And that was why it was so hilarious to see Ollie Robinson give Usman Khawaja a four-letter mouthful when he finally bowled the Australian opener on Sunday. Khawaja is probably the least prickish member of the Aussie side. He doesn’t behave like your archetypal Aussie and he seems to have an easygoing relationship with the close fielders. When he knocked the ball down to his feet, he bent down, picked it up and handed it to an England player. His batting over the whole five days was simply superb and paved the way for the win.

And he certainly didn’t mind Robinson’s send-off. There has been some largely confected fury in Australia about Robinson, and of course you’ve never heard an Aussie swear. It didn’t matter too much: immediately Joe Root ran over to congratulate Khawaja rather than join the huddle round Robinson. It was the sheer absurdity of Robinson’s torrent of abuse that made it so inoffensive, and so out of keeping with the generally good-natured nature of this match. Root, Pat Cummins and their team-mates play with smiles on their faces. But at least it was a proper sledge from Robinson.

The England performance was of a piece, always bold and adventurous right from Ben Stokes’s fearless declaration on the first day, without which we wouldn’t have been treated to one of the most exciting, seesaw Test matches of modern times. There’s also the ‘WTF’ issue, as in What The Foakes. Sure, Jonny Bairstow’s keeping was under par but Brendon McCullum and Stokes are deeply loyal to their players. It seems unlikely that Bairstow will be ditched for the Surrey keeper. England might have lost an epic, but who wouldn’t rather that than a dreary old Test draw? Stokes and McCullum want to entertain, and by God they did that.

One thing an Ashes series doesn’t need is too much good behaviour. And you certainly don’t get too much good behaviour from an Edgbaston crowd which as always has the riotous feel of a five-day stag-do. Five sell-out days is extraordinary and could only happen in England.