These situations seem to focus the minds of England's players, and sharpen their resolve. Their most recent semi-final defeat - against New Zealand in Dubai, in the 2021 T20 World Cup - came after a cruise through the group stage, which culminated in a defeat to South Africa in a game that was effectively a dead-rubber.

The scenario was very different to that in both World Cup triumphs. In both tournaments, surprise results early in the group stages left them on the brink of elimination, needing to win four games in a row. In both tournaments, they resolved to double-down on their attacking approach. In both tournaments, the clarity brought out their best.

In 2019, a rare team meeting at Edgbaston instigated by psychologist David Young prompted players to discuss candidly their fear of defeat and elimination ahead of their first must-win game against India. England resolved, as Woakes recalled in the book White Hot, that "If we were going to lose, we were going to go down swinging". It was Stokes who opened up first that day, having been encouraged by Young over coffee the day before.

England's ultra-attacking method with the bat came under sustained scrutiny in their defeat at Lord's, with an expectation that they would rein themselves in at Headingley. Instead, they doubled down: they raced along at 4.79 runs per over in the third Test, their quickest scoring rate of the series so far.

Woakes came into the side and played a significant role in that win, and acknowledged the parallels with those World Cup wins. "It maps it out for you, doesn't it?" he said. "There are no ifs or buts or maybes: you've got no choice but to go and win. That probably suits this team nicely, as it has done the white-ball team when we've been in those situations.

"Hopefully, those experiences of a few players can help them. Everyone knows that we've got to go out there and try and win: Ben's a big fan of not drawing Test matches. It does map it out for us and set it up for us that we have to go out there and win - and we are in Manchester, so I'm sure there'll be rain at some point."

"A draw's good enough for them," Stokes said. Pat Cummins insisted that Australia's "first preference is always to try to win", citing their disappointment at drawing the 2019 series two-all. But he also conceded: "As the game progresses, you maybe start working out how risky you want to be."

"It makes everything that we've been doing more relevant," Stokes added. "If we were to shy away from the task at hand, that wouldn't get the best out of us as a team in terms of the personnel that we have at the moment. Knowing we need to win this one… probably suits us even more, to be honest."