Pietersen holds the urn in the dressing room at the Kia Oval after England won the Ashes in 2013

Lord’s, last week. Typical corporate function. The Long Room. Two hundred people. Andrew Strauss and Graeme Swann, the guests. Dinner, ask them a few questions, polite conversation, decent folk at the table. Job done. Nice and easy.

Beforehand, a question from a guest as we take pre-dinner drinks in the bar. Can we have a look at the England dressing room? Sure, no problem. Nip up the two flights of stairs, past the portraits of Gooch, Vaughan, Stewart. Through the door that says admittance by permission of the captain only, and into the hallowed place.

Save for the honours board that marks the Lord’s dressing room as special, it is like any other. Seats around the perimeter. Pegs for clothes. Huge table in the middle