A Mitchell Starc bouncer to the back of the head. An inside edge onto his own knee off Cameron Green. The near four hours in the open under all 41-degrees-centigrade of a vengeful South Australian sun.
Hamstrings weary. Hips strained. Knees begging for relief. Arms burned. Spirit… well spirit still intact. But never more alone in the centre of an Adelaide Oval as the majority of a day-two crowd numbering 48,849 awaited the fall of Ben Stokes. And, by proxy, the fall of England.
These Bazwalls, once seemingly marble, have resisted Australian pressure like styrofoam. Day Eight of the Ashes, and here was the true founder of a promising brand of England Test cricket using his body to buttress his own parish in the city of churches with stronger foundations in the literal and figurative sense.
Could Stokes keep the Ashes alive for a little longer? Technically yes - and he did. From 71 for 4, when England's captain arrived following Joe Root's dismissal, and at 186 for 8, this did not look like an innings that would spill into day three. Somehow, the end still feels closer.
Australia's attack were relentless, accessing a true flow state in conditions that were against them. If you could design ideal batting conditions, this was it. And so, for all the home side's brilliance, the shame was still on England.
What a thing to have wasted. Not just for themselves, but for all the former England Test batters - some greats, others whose greatness can be measured in how they were adored - who have come here and been forced into shame. None of them had an opportunity like this, to make Australia's first innings of 371 look at least 100 below par. Somehow, they have made it look 100 over.
Stokes, as ever, accessed his state. But there was no flow. No rhythm beyond a big, fighting heart that all bar probably Snicko know will never stop beating for the cause. And yet, something about it felt like philosophical martyrdom.
Here was a movement Stokes created for the good of the whole entering its final throes in infamy. The man himself inverting the very principles of attacking intent that were meant to make a difference. Shackled to a point that his unbeaten 45 off 151 deliveries was not about putting pressure back on the bowlers.
Ironically, the folly of it was what they preached against. Playing possum keeps the scoreboard static. Lo and behold, they were right - England are still lots behind. But in absorbing what Starc, Green, Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon were inflicting upon him, he was being squashed, cracking far more than the left knee that creaked as he battled cramp for his singles late on.
It was not just relentless lines and lengths but hubris. This harrowing day of spurn unfolded on a pitch that head Brendon McCullum suggested would better suit the team's natural attacking whims. Even Stokes' own words were back to haunt him.
Back in June 2023, on the eve of the previous Ashes, the captain suggested a young Alastair Cook might not make his team. "That is not something we are looking for," he said of the opener's conservative approach, before adding: "In three or four years' time you might have a new captain and coach who want to go back to the other way Test cricket can be played. And maybe those type of players will have an opportunity then."
But here Stokes was, digging in during a must-win Test of a series that will define a period marketed very differently, operating at a strike rate that hovered in the low twenties. It settled overnight on 29.80 - a figure that would rank as the fourth-lowest of Cook's 113 forty-plus scores.
The necessity of it all was carried in the fact all the top five bar Ollie Pope had been removed after defensive rather than imposing shots. Stokes had said after defeat in the second Test that erring towards the safe side, and seeking comfort in caution, was something they had to improve upon.
If cricket, like life, is cyclical, then it is also true that the worst of both always come on the half-turns. And we might be at the 180-point with this England team. From shunning fear and consequence to embrace expansive, engaging play, now they have been pressed into grinding out of the pits, out of the depths, out of the dark.
There is a valuable lesson here. The first iteration of Bazball was a reaction to how things were; one win in 17, a Covid Ashes that broke players and coaches, a true great (Root) dulled by worry. Objectively, it worked, with 13 wins in 18 through to the end of the 2023 Ashes.
There have been as many defeats as wins (12) in the 26 matches since. And the great inglory came here on Thursday, as the second iteration that was supposed to fine-tune the free-wheeling first chapter were forced into the proper stuff. Against the rival nation that sparked this search for a better way, in the series that was supposed to be different. Unsurprisingly, they could not see it through.
In the harsh light of Adelaide, truths were there to be confronted. Some of which were known all along. The merits of Bazball are relative to what came before it. Like the lime after the tequila, it worked as an antidote.
On its own - as has been the case with a group who, while having been in situ since the start of the 2024 summer, have only really known this way of being - it has proved ineffective. Damaging, in fact, as an overly protected group are now brutally exposed and disappearing fast.
All except Stokes, whose personal experiences led him down this path. It was in this city back in 2013-14 that he debuted, and left that tour with a maiden Test century, five-wicket haul and surely no thought Ashes success would be beyond him here.
There may be further indignity once Australia take the remaining two wickets. They'd have never enforced the follow-on given today's graft, but they will know the most satisfying route to victory comes with inflicting more misery upon England's quicks, Stokes included. Then, who knows, hand them one last hubristic gotcha with a comically big chase. 'Didn't you lads used to say you'd chase anything?'
With all that being forced down Stokes' throat, maybe it was no surprise he had trouble keeping things down. In the last 90 minutes of play, carbohydrate drinks were brought out. The problem was that, by then, Stokes could not take on the necessary amounts to replenish his energy. Too ill to consume the antidote.