Pat Cummins has admitted the pain of Australia's last-gasp defeat by a Ben Stokes-inspired England at Headingley four years ago was preying on his mind as he steered his side to a monumental Ashes triumph at Edgbaston.
Never mind making up for the agonising two-run loss to England in the 2005 Ashes; Cummins actually felt Tuesday's two-wicket victory had helped wash away the misery that had accompanied the Leeds sickener in 2019.
"There’s been a lot of talk about 2005 this week but I think we were all about 10 years old when that happened," smiled the skipper.
"2019 is probably the one we look at the most - that two-all at the end of the series felt like unfinished business.
"I would be lying if I said it didn’t enter my mind out there," admitted Cummins, reflecting on the pain of that Headingley defeat when Stokes' extraordinary unbeaten ton blasted England to a one-wicket win when they had looked to have no chance.
The boot, though, was on the other foot on Tuesday. Australia, featuring seven of the side who lost that day, looked almost down and out with 55 still needed and only two wickets left as they chased 282.
But Cummins, who had been smashed by Stokes for the winning four in 2019, and Nathan Lyon, who failed to gather the ball for what would have been the winning run-out in Leeds, this time made glorious amends as their unlikely, unbeaten 55-run partnership steered the team home at Edgbaston.
Usman Khawaja was the other Edgbaston hero with scores of 141 and 65, the culmination of an extraordinary resurgence since that Headingley loss, after which he was dropped, fearing that his career was over.
"We’d been on the other side of the pain last series," said Cummins, whose 44 not out was the highest fourth-innings score to win a Test by someone batting at No.9 or lower.
"What a wonderful Test match this was, really hard-fought, one of those ones that when you're on the other side it really hurts. It feels like one that got away, so it’s a pretty happy dressing room in there at the moment to be one-up in the series.
"A lot of those guys were there at Headingley and it feels like we clinched one today that was out of our grasp there for a little while - it's pretty satisfying."
Losing captain Stokes also couldn't help recalling his greatest day as he almost took the most dazzling one-handed catches to get rid of Lyon, only for the ball to slip from his clutches as he made an acrobatic leap backwards. This time, he couldn't quite be the hero.
"Yeah, god, its amazing. Going back to Headingley with Gaz (Lyon) dropping the ball over the stumps. It's amazing how the world comes around. I drop that catch and he's not out at the end. It's mad how things go around, isn't it?" mused Stokes.
"God. I'm reliving it in my head now. The ball was in my hand, just didn't manage to make it stick. One of those shoulda, coulda, woulda moments.
"Would have been a good catch, though, wouldn't it?"
