As Joe Root stood on the outfield, beneath a pristine blue sky, and spoke of his desire to pluck some kind of phoenix from the Ashes, it was tempting to wonder if he had ever enjoyed a finer moment at the SCG.
That may change during the course of the fourth Test, of course, as he tries to drag a performance from a team who have attracted derision and disappointment from the Australian public in equal measure.
But Sydney remains the only Test venue where Root has been dropped by England, back in 2013-14, and the only Test venue where he has finished flat out in the dressing-room, laid low four years ago by heat exhaustion – temperatures in the middle reached 41 degrees – and gastroenteritis.
Joe Root and England are now in Sydney for the fourth Ashes Test against Australia
The Aussies have already wrapped the series up with three wins in the first three Tests
There is growing scrutiny on Chris Silverwood (second left) and Root's roles with England
That was the warmest Sydney had experienced since 1939. And although the forecast for this game is mixed, Australia do not intend to make life any less uncomfortable for an England side who continue to talk a good game, then play a bad one.
Root did make 83 and 58 not out in that 2017-18 match, but half-centuries in this part of the world have not been his problem. Now, as he prepares to lead his country for an England-record 60th Test – Alastair Cook managed 59 – he does so against a backdrop that makes the previous two Ashes tours look like strolls in the park.
It’s not simply that Covid continues to hang over the series like a noxious cloud, with Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley the latest to test positive, and the England coaching staff not currently in isolation numbering a grand total of three.
It’s the fact that the tourists’ lack of competitiveness has sparked the kind of debate last aired in the 1990s, when they were in the middle of a run of eight Ashes defeats, and senior Australian journalists wondered if the series ought to be reduced from five or six Tests to three.
And while Root has employed a variety of oratorical themes out here to rouse his players, he remains in search of a winning formula.
After Brisbane, he suggested England were at least into the series after a damp and dismal warm-up. After Adelaide, he said there were no longer any excuses, and demanded a response. It came at Melbourne, though not as he hoped: 68 all out, followed by growing speculation about his future as captain and the fate of head coach Chris Silverwood.
Root will captain England for the 60th time - a record - when he takes to the field in Sydney
Stuart Broad could be recalled to the team as England search for the winning formula
