RAPID-FIRE England needed less than half an hour on the final day of the Test summer on Monday to wrap up a chase of 130 and a 2-1 series win over South Africa.
Zak Crawley belied a total lack of confidence to finish 69 not out, smashing a four through the covers to seal a remarkable win in a match which lasted only 146 overs in all.
Coincidentally, the first innings of both teams took up only 36.2 overs, as England - having dismissed South Africa for 118 after Ollie Robinson's 5-49 - failed to bat the tourists out of the match, making just 158 for a lead of 40.
Even by what had gone on previously this summer, this was cricket on steroids - although it was no doubt affected by the match situation.
Indeed, if this Test had started on time, South Africa's second innings would have begun about an hour after tea on day one.
There had been no play possible on the opening day due to heavy and persistent rain in south London - and, that night, Queen Elizabeth II died.
Day two was understandably cancelled - and, amid rumours that the match might be abandoned altogether, the decision to continue came as something of a surprise.
Nevertheless, the third day began with a full house impeccably observing a minute (and more) of silence ahead of the anthems, including an emotional rendition of God Save The King.
And, for these pre-match commemorations alone, it was pretty much unanimously agreed that the tough call to carry on with the show on Saturday had been justified.
Onto the cricket - and the decider had effectively been reduced to a three-day match, although that had been adequate time in the first two Tests at Lord's and Old Trafford for the teams to achieve an innings win each.
So it proved again.
Now, this fine victory at the Oval meant England triumphed in as many as six Tests in a summer for only the second time ever, with Michael Vaughan's vintage winning all seven against New Zealand and the West Indies in 2004.
The Black Caps were England's first victims again this year as a reinvigorated side under head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes swept past the 2021 World Test champions with a trio of remarkable chases.
Jonny Bairstow starred as fourth innings targets of 277, 299 and 296 were reached with a ridiculous amount of ease.
Indeed, the chase in the second Test at Trent Bridge, in which Bairstow hit 136 off just 92 balls, produced some of the most ferocious hitting out ever seen in red-ball cricket.
Next came India who returned to these shores for the fifth Test of a series which should have concluded more than nine months previously in September 2021.
Instead, the Indians returned home with a 2-1 lead but one match left to play, citing concerns of playing on with COVID-19 in the camp after a member of their support staff tested positive.
Not that such concern stopped most of the India players from gearing up for the money-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) which started only five days later.
More fool them really, though. In the summer of 2021 in the slowly dying embers of the Joe Root tenure, India had faced a timid England team who had refused a chase of 273 in 70 overs against New Zealand.
However, while England spent most of the rearranged match being outplayed, they fearlessly took on a target of 378 on the evening of day four and the morning of day five.
Alex Lees and Crawley set up the audacious attempt with a century opening stand before Root (142 not out) and Bairstow (114 not out) thumped England to a record fourth innings chase.
And so, from a dreadful record of one win in 17 Tests, the new Stokes and McCullum regime had made it four wins out of four with a quartet of magnificent fourth innings displays.
In the final part of this summer Test trilogy, though, South Africa brought England back down to earth.
Arriving to these shores for bilateral series for the first time since 2017, the Proteas promptly drew the One Day International series, won the T20 International series, and then thrashed England in the first Test.
Their innings win at Lord's came despite the tourists only making 326 from their own effort as England crumbled twice on the first and third days - although undoubtedly, skipper Dean Elgar had made the best of a good toss.
Elgar had the chance to seal the series in the second match at Old Trafford after guessing correctly again - but, under slate grey Manchester skies, he bizarrely opted to bat.
By lunch, his team had been reduced to 77-5 - and, shortly after tea, they were all out for 151.
Predictably, England also struggled at first, and were reduced to 147-5, before Stokes (103) and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes (113*) both took charge.
England declared on 415-9 - and the fast-bowlers again made light work of South Africa to bowl them out for just 179.
Regrettably then, none of the matches resembled a close contest - yet it is far more regrettable that again South Africa will not play another Test in England for several years.
In fact, according to the 2023-27 Future Tours Programme - announced recently by the International Cricket Council (ICC) - the South Africans will only play the longest form of the game on 28 occasions in total during the next cycle.
Of course, much room in the cricket calendar is now dedicated to the glut of T20 leagues popping up around the world.
In particular, the monstrous IPL has been extended to 74 days between the last week of March and the first week of June, a period in which no meaningful international cricket will be played.
Meanwhile, the English Cricket Board (ECB) - in frustration at their missed opportunity of properly monetising a T20 competition - continues to ram the strange Hundred format down the throat of everyone.
Like the IPL, the Hundred will have its own window in August and likewise the Big Bash in Australia in January.
For the record, other short-form franchise tournaments are: the Pakistan Super League, the Caribbean Premier League, the Lanka Premier League, the Super Smash in New Zealand, the International League T20 in the United Arab Emirates, and the CSA T20, a new entrant from South Africa.
Now, in actual fact, proponents of the Test format can relax, or at least the fans of the so-called Big Three can - that is, Australia, England, and India - but, beyond those three countries, the rest of the world is being left behind.
The trio will all play five-match series against each other, a total of 30 matches - and, in the other 143 Tests planned for the cycle, 61 will feature one of them (42.6%).
Still more in peril than Test cricket is the future of the One Day International which threatens to become a forgotten format - despite the Cricket World Cup having been played on this basis since 1975.
England Test skipper Stokes retired from ODIs in July, and he made no secret of the reasoning behind his decision.
"Three formats are just unsustainable for me now... I feel that my body is letting me down because of the schedule and what is expected of us," he said.
Yet, only just over three years ago, he was part of the team which lifted the World Cup.
Of course, Stokes's decision is understandable from little more than a cursory glance at the calendar.
Next week, England's men begin their winter season with seven T20 Internationals against Pakistan ahead of three T20 matches against Australia.
Then, an international T20 World Cup is set to begin next month in Australia, less than 12 months since the previous tournament - and there is a further edition is scheduled for the summer of 2024.
In the meantime, before this year is out, England face the Aussies in three ODIs before a return to Pakistan for three Tests in December.
For sure, the relentless international cricket carousel never stops for long.
| ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND • England won the series 3-0 | ||
| 2-6 June | England 141 & 279-5 beat New Zealand 132 & 285 by five wickets • England run-rates: 3.29 & 3.54 | Lord's |
| 10-14 June | England 539 & 299-5 beat New Zealand 553 & 284 by five wickets • England run-rates: 4.20 & 5.98 | Trent Bridge |
| 23-27 June | England 360 & 296-3 beat New Zealand 329 & 326 by seven wickets • England run-rates: 5.37 & 5.45 | Headingley |
| ENGLAND v INDIA • Series drawn 2-2 | ||
| 1-5 July | England 284 & 378-3 beat India 416 & 245 by seven wickets • England run rates: 4.62 & 4.93 | Edgbaston |
ENGLAND v SOUTH AFRICA • England won the series 2-1 | ||
| 17-19 August | South Africa 326 beat England 165 & 149 by an innings and 12 runs • England run-rates: 3.67 & 3.96 | Lord's |
| 26-28 August | England 415-9d bt South Africa 151 & 179 by an innings and 85 runs • England run-rate: 3.89 | Old Trafford |
| 8-10 September | England 158 & 130-1 beat South Africa 118 & 169 by nine wickets • England run-rates: 4.35 & 5.78 | The Oval |
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