Northampton: Mitch Starc will not be returning to Australia as a member of an Ashes-winning team, as he desperately wanted to. But he will - or at least should - return having shed a lot of the scepticism that his fast-bowling prowess was confined to the white ball and that Tests were a bridge too far for him.
When the 25-year-old faced the media the night before Australia officially lost the Ashes he was peppered with questions about just what had gone so wrong for his team. The fact he was there as was one of the only Australians able to emerge from that match with their head held high, because of his 6-111 in England's only innings at Trent Bridge, was subsumed by his team's dire circumstances.
Only Stuart Broad has more wickets in this series than Starc, 21 compared to 18. Of all the specialist bowlers on either side none are as expensive as the left-armer. Even so, he is taking wickets so regularly - and so clinically - that he is not daunted by that lack of economy as he once was. 
"I don't think I've ever been the sort of bowler that's going to go for one and a half runs an over in a Test match or maybe 15 or 20 runs in a one-day game," Starc explained. "When you take wickets you don't have to worry too much about going for runs, because if you can bowl a side out it's even better."
Starc 'could' be a stingier bowler if he was not so ambitious. But it is exactly that ambition that has made him, on form, the most destructive fast-bowler in the game. His tally of 94 wickets in all formats from the one-day series in Zimbabwe almost a year ago is in itself impressive. What sets him apart is that 44 of those wickets, just under half his total, have come from him either bowling an opponent or trapping them leg-before. The second innings at Trent Bridge was in keeping with that, with two victims bowled and another two trapped in front.
There is nothing covert about Starc's go-to tactic: express-paced yorkers. But, as he explained with a smile, it is one thing for a batsman to know what is coming; it is another for them to successfully combat it.
"It's always a nice feeling when you bowl someone rather than getting them to nick off or something like that," he said.
"Sometimes there's going to be some half-volleys when I miss my length, but I'm trying to get that ball to swing as much as I can and as late as I can.
"I think I've played enough cricket now that guys are starting to get hold of my gameplan ... but they've still got to play it. I think if I can still get the ball to swing around at 140-plus ... it's still going to be tough to face. That's where that attacking mentality [comes in] ... if they're missing I'm hitting."
Even the world's elite batsmen can be powerless against yorkers delivered from Starc's great height. Of all of those 94 wickets none were as consequential as with the fifth delivery of the World Cup final when, in a delivery set to be synonymous with Starc's career, he crashed through the defences of the key obstacle between Australia and the tournament trophy: New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum.
"I still get goosebumps every time I see that, just because of the noise around the whole ground. We had huge support for the whole World Cup, and for the plan to come off and then the noise of the stadium as we went on to win the World Cup it was a very special day for all of us. It's one I'll never forget," he recalled.
"I was a bit puffed because I think I ran around a bit too much after that. 'Joshy' [Hazlewood] still reckons I was down at fine-leg giving high-fives!"
Even with Starc's cricketing heroics throughout the World Cup he unerringly deferred to Mitch Johnson as the leader of the pace attack. Almost five months' on that has not changed, irrespective of what the Ashes wickets, averages and strike-rates represent (Starc is well on top in all three).
For Starc, 33-year-old Johnson remains a role model, as a "beast" who manages to consistently bowl fast while keeping injury at bay.
"To be training alongside him, whether it be in the nets or in the gym, trying to keep up with him is a good starting point," he said.
Starc reckoned his good results with the ball were a byproduct of playing consistently. What has allowed him to play consistently is to learning more about his pain threshold. It is why he was able to overcome the overt ankle problems he suffered in Cardiff, which at the same looked set to sideline him from at least the next Test, to be on track to play the entire Ashes series - a big deal for a player whose first three and a half years in Tests were characterised by struggling to earn selection for consecutive matches.
"Spending time with Ryan Harris ... [helped me with] playing through things, know the difference between good pain and bad pain," he said. "Not every pain you get you have to run to the physio. Early on, every time you got a bit sore you'd go and say something, and they'd say 'It's just a niggleworm'. There's always something that's going to be hurting ... but to get through that in the Cardiff Test and get back on the horse at Lord's and push through it all will stay in the back of my mind as [a reminder that] it's another thing I can get through.
"When I'm playing Test cricket for Australia it's going to take a lot more than a bit of ankle pain to get me off that ground."
Starc is the only Australian bowler used in the Ashes who will stay on for the limited-overs series - which, given his preference for a continually solid workload, suits him perfectly. Before then, however, he still has unfinished business with the red ball, to finish a series in which his performances have demanded recognition, even if just as a small thing Australian supporters can savour amid England's dominance.
"There'll always be critics. But it's been nice to have a bit of a run at Test cricket and play back to back through the West Indies and this tour, hopefully on to another Test at the Oval, put some more wickets on the board to not only prove to myself that I can do it but to quieten down some doubters as well," he said.