IAN HERBERT: The Ashes was a fantastic spectacle, compelling, a contrast of philosophies, from the first ball to the last… it surpassed anything I’ve even seen in the sport

The actor Stephen Mangan, in an excellent Test Match Special ‘View from the Boundary’ on Saturday, talked about how his geography teacher would have the cricket commentary in class, and I suspect this reflects a formative relationship many of us have had with the game.

Our art teacher conveniently decided that an outdoor ‘sketch class’ on the banks of the Shropshire Union Canal was needed in the summer of 1981. He packed a radio for the Ashes Test that would be remembered for the Miracle of Headingley.

The sun was shining that day, if I remember correctly, though that may be just confirmation; a belief that nothing can ever hold a candle to Botham, Dilley and those golden days of the early ’80s.

Well, the past month has actually – and let me count the ways, from the perspective of someone who has lived this Ashes series through the prisms of a radio, a TV set and, for a very nice day, the Test match arena itself – 70 rows up in the dizzying temporary stand at Old Trafford.

There have, of course, been Chris Woakes and Mark Wood, the Zak Crawley crack of that first Ashes ball, Sky’s profit predictor and animated batsman’s grill camera, Joe Root’s first-ball disaster, the authority of a new commentator, Eoin Morgan, and the self-confident excellent from the establishment – none better for me than Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Simon Mann and Jim Maxwell.

In the stand at Old Trafford, a man in a matching avocado print shirt and hat led some singing about avocados to the tune of ‘we are England, mighty, mighty England’. And while that day may have seemed one of the most auspicious, as Australia spun, it still reflected the extraordinary and unceasing poise of a run in which no one ever managed to achieve total superiority.

Nearly every Australian batsman was located. None remained. That was this series to the very end – moving, on the edge, never resolved – and as far as this household is concerned, those qualities attracted the young and not-so-young alike.

I thought the BBC highlights would be the limit of my grandson’s attention span. Not so. As we watched together, so did my mother-in-law, captivated by this sport for the first time in her 93 years.

It was the “re-setting” she was looking for, she said — the time elapsed before the next ball was bowled provided the moments of TV analysis of the previous one in a way she hadn’t expected. Sky Sports broadcasts helped with that. They remain unparalleled in their pursuit of new insights and innovation.

The competitive equilibrium has extended to the instances of perceived misfortune and bad luck. Jonny Bairstow’s apparent injustice at Lord’s was no less than England’s worn-out ball being replaced by a superior ball at The Oval, although we heard much less about the latter. Australia was robbed of Nathan Lyon. England was robbed by the rain.

The deluge of Manchester will be most cursed, though it is one of those factors which, more than any other, make the five-day contest within these shores such a pretty formidable challenge, against which the short forms are a pale imitation. As Atherton put it on commentary, “You have to be smart and flexible and willing to bend to circumstances.”

England was flexible. After Birmingham’s madness, Bazball had evolved through Old Trafford and England became prepared to tap the short ball in, not hit everyone for six, although Jonathan Agnew made short work of Ben Stokes last week when he posited this idea.

Stokes wants to convey the feeling that England is operating raw, off the cuff, unfettered by dull instincts such as thinking about what went wrong and what could be better. But don’t believe the propaganda. They do analyze.

It wasn’t the purest display of technical excellence, for all its moments of brief sublimity. A total of seven centuries. But the edge-of-the-seat experience of the past 36 days has reminded us that the best sport doesn’t have to bring the best technique.

Over 15 years of sports writing has given me the privilege of witnessing moments that have hit the peaks. Lionel Messi at the pinnacle of his ability running the ball around Manchester City at the Nou Camp, Stuart Broad’s 8 for 15 in 57 balls at Trent Bridge and Jordan Speith’s masterful Masters – in 2015 alone. But those moments were fleeting; never before disappeared.

None matched what has just unfolded. It’s been a sporting spectacle and competition beyond anything I’ve ever seen – perpetually immersive, a contrast of approaches and philosophies, perfectly formed from the first ball to the last.

The world seemed a much emptier place without the blinds on Tuesday and pulling down the blinds adds to the sadness. The allocation of future international matches means there will be no Ashes Test north of Nottingham until 2030.

A desperately short-sighted state of affairs given the way these sides have stimulated and revitalized Test cricket, although there will no doubt be ways to share the passion and pass the torch. There’ll be a geography or art teacher somewhere, in possession of a radio.

Anderson lets his numbers tell the story

Hard not to be impressed by the sight of Jimmy Anderson, heading to the pavilion in the shadow of Stuart Broad after the final of The Oval.

It will probably be his last Ashes appearance too, although he shuns the spotlight and I doubt he would announce his retirement mid-Test, even if 689 Test wickets at 26.21 gave him all the rights.

He walks on the quiet side and lets his numbers tell the story. Respect to him for that.

Bury finally returns home to much fanfare

Kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes to get the spectators in, match schedules were sold out and the stadium announcer urged fans to ‘move up so everyone can get a seat’.

That’s how much it meant to the people of Bury to have a functioning football club on Saturday for the first time in four years, free of rogue owners, competing on their historic Gigg Lane ground for the first time in four years.

They’ve got a seriously good side too – new striker Benito Lowe scored twice as they won 5-1 in their opening game in the North West Counties Premier against Glossop North End.

The attendance for the ninth level game was 5,451 and will be somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000.

To buy a cake and coffee there for £6 on a Saturday while the announcer played ‘I’m knocked down but I’m getting back up’ and ‘The lads are back in town’ was to be reminded of the appeal of local football , back in the hands of the community.

It’s a far cry from the international Premier League and the 1,400 who have bought season tickets wouldn’t trade Gigg Lane for Old Trafford or the Etihad if you paid them. Easy to see why.

Haiti are the heroes of the World Cup

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. More than half of the population lives below the World Bank poverty line.

Violence disrupts women’s national football competition. The national teams play outside the country. Still, the team’s performance against England in their first Women’s World Cup match earned them a point and they might have scored twice.

Many of those players will play in the French league next season and 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay will be a star there. Haiti have been eliminated and have nevertheless been heroes of the group stage.