Steve Smith decided to pop a sleeping tablet on Tuesday night following a rather stressful day at work. No judgment: we’ve all been there. But in the end, all it took to improve the Australian captain’s mood were a couple of Josh Hazlewood’s finest pills.

“I was a little bit nervous last night,” Smith said after his side’s victory, his tone a mix of relief and candour. “It’s been a pretty tough 24 hours. It’s all part of being captain of your country. Sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision. It’s part of a learning experience. I’ll reflect on some things I can improve in my leadership and captaincy.”

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Playing on his mind, he explained, was the follow-on he elected not to enforce, the stumble of his batsmen in the second dig, and that he had skittishly binned two DRS referrals in the space of three balls. Ample to keep any skipper awake. But bigger than all those problems combined was Joe Root, unbeaten on 67 at the close. “I had to have a sleeping pill,” he joked.

Enter Josh Hazlewood; far from the man most likely in the early exchanges of this series, but the quick that Smith entrusted with the first over of the final day. The default option would have been throwing the ball to Nathan Lyon, with whom he can set and forget for the accuracy and confidence he is bowling with currently. Or Pat Cummins for raw power.

Instead, 20 minutes before play Smith told Hazlewood he would be the one. It was a call vindicated before the Barmy Army had even finished singing Jerusalem to mark the start of play. With a piece of textbook seam, he squared up Chris Woakes, the ball gently kissing his outside edge. It was beautiful cricket.

Hazlewood’s series may have started slowly, and summer too, after a side strain he picked up in Bangladesh hung around a touch longer than anticipated, but at last he was front and centre. As for England, their swollen hopes of a miracle were lumped further onto Root.

How did Hazlewood feel about carrying that early responsibility? “You wait for these moments in games to go out there and stamp your authority,” he recalled. “There were a few nerves as well as excitement for the opportunity to win a Test.”

When, with his 11th delivery he drew an indecisive response from England’s skipper to find his edge too, it was an opportunity he had grasped.

“I could breathe a little more easily then,” Smith said of the telling moment. “Josh probably hasn’t been bowling as well as I’ve seen him bowl and I think he knows that. But this morning I thought the lengths that he came out and bowled were exceptional.”

Those lengths were some 0.8 metres fuller on average than in the first innings, according to CricViz. “That’s Josh Hazlewood, that’s what he does,” continued Smith. “He bowls that length day in, day out. He doesn’t try to swing the ball too much, just hits the seam, gets a bit of movement both ways.” Easy, when you put it like that.

He also bowled gas. On average, Hazlewood sent them down at 88.1mph in Adelaide compared to 85.5mph at Brisbane. So, a yard quicker in addition to landing a yard fuller. It was also the fastest he’s bowled through a match in three years, again with numbers crunched by CricViz.

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After picking up Woakes, he unfurled at 92.2mph to Johnny Bairstow first up, a reading that surprised even himself. “Obviously there was adrenalin running through the body with a couple of wickets there as well,” he said. “My rhythm was really good. So I’m pretty happy with that.”

Speaking of pills, it took Mitchell Starc a single attempt to cash in with the second pink one through more pace and hoop. From there, the attack-leader did what he does best: steamrolling the tail and finishing with a bag of five. Early baths for all.

Sure enough, before it was done Lyon was into the action too, just as he has been at every available opportunity in 2017. Moeen Ali was the England left-hander he would have his way with this time, the all-rounder sweeping indiscriminately and missing unflatteringly.

The Lyon stat of the day: he now has 38 wickets in most recent five Tests – one more than Mitchell Johnson took in 2013-14 Ashes, by way of comparison. “Nathan is bowling as well as I’ve seen,” Smith gushed of his tweaker.

With a two-nil lead in his pocket he won’t need any assistance nodding off tonight, an Ashes-winning victory at Perth deservedly in his dreams.