Despite occasionally lapsing into somewhat purple prose, doyen of English cricket writers Neville Cardus bequeathed many phrases of exquisite beauty and enduring truth to the anthologists of the game.
His love affair with Trent Bridge in Nottingham avowedly began when he watched his Lanc-ashire idol, Reggie Spooner, compile a flawless 247 there in 1903.
Writing in 1924 in his journal Days in the Sun, Cardus immortalised Trent Bridge as "a lotus land for batsmen, a place where it was always afternoon, and 360 for two wickets". 
My own experiences of the ground have been consistent with that dreamy evocation of Trent Bridge and its idyllic, quintessentially, English charm.
It is a ground endowed with a wonderful atmosphere, which is enhanced by astute fans with a purists' passion for the game. They are generous hosts.
While it cannot match the majesty of Lord's, it provides peerless intimacy. "Time does not invade Trent Bridge with irrelevant modernity," Cardus wrote in 1938. The occasion for that observation was a piece to commemorate the centenary of cricket at the ground.
Not long after, Australia's Stan McCabe played what is generally considered the finest innings ever seen at the ground. His swashbuckling 232 in just under four hours was perhaps a harbinger of relevant modernity, a glimpse ahead to the contemporary era in which the scoring rates of Test cricket reflect the infiltration of the tactics, tenor and technique of shorter forms of the game. The current, see-sawing Test series, with its precipitate collapses and abrupt finishes is the very apotheosis of the modern game.
The first, unmistakably Australian, team to venture to Eng-land, in 1878, played its opening fixture at Trent Bridge on   May 20, 1878. Far from being a lotus land for batsmen, bathed in the ethereal light of an English summer, they encountered a quagmire.
They had not seen the sun since disembarking at Liverpool the previous week. Chilly temperatures and torrential downpours made conditions difficult for the men from the Great South Land. None of the tourists had even packed sweaters for the tour, though opening batsman Charles Bannerman did emerge from the pavilion in a pith helmet. They were routed for 63 and 76 in losing to Nottinghamshire by an innings and 14 runs.
The most recent Australians would have found Cardus's description of the Trent Bridge more plausible. The opening Test of the 2013 Ashes series was played in perfect conditions and fired the imaginations of English and Australian cricket watchers alike. Australia fell just 14 runs short of victory in an absorbing, fluctuating contest which ebbed and flowed until after lunch on the final day.
Nothing so epitomised the enticing ambience of that match as the flashing smile with which Australian off-spinner Ashton Agar responded to his dismissal just two runs short of a Test century on debut, batting at No 11 in Australia's first innings.
Yet, closer examination of the scorecard from that match reveals in microcosm both the challenges facing the Australians as they seek to win at Trent Bridge for the first time since 2001, significantly the last time they won an Ashes series in England, as well as how many unresolved selection issues face the selectors regardless of the fate of this series.
Agar's flashing smile is now but a dim memory. He was unconvincing in his primary role as a left-arm orthodox spinner and seems unlikely to return to this level in the foreseeable future. Skipper Michael Clarke scored a duck in the first innings when runs were needed, coming in after Ed Cowan had registered a first-ball duck.
Remember Cowan? He was that left-handed opener who liked to occupy the crease like a Test player from another era, batting out of place and out of sorts that day at Trent Bridge. It was his last Test.
It was the second-last Test for the precociously gifted Phillip -Hughes, whose 81 to support Agar's flourish was one the most mature and discerning innings he played at this level. Shane Watson looked polished and comfortable, before being trapped lbw by Stuart Broad. Sound familiar?
And the final wicket to fall, as Australia fell tantalisingly short of an epic victory, was that of Brad Haddin, who looked every inch the stoic sheet anchor upon which a flaky top order had relied all too often.
Of the bowlers, Mitchell Starc was innocuous, while Peter Siddle toiled manfully to claim 5-50 from 14 overs to seize the initiative for Australia after England had won the toss.
Hughes died tragically last year, Watson, Haddin and Cowan have all been discarded, permanently it would seem. Only Chris Rogers and Siddle evoke favourable memories of that last campaign at this ground.
It may be that the Victorian Siddle replaces Starc who squandered the new ball at Edgbaston, while Rogers continues to provide a reassuringly timeless presence at the top of the order. Yet none of this can be construed as rebuilding, which is surely indicated as this team rapidly ages.
Given his recent spate of head injuries, Rogers is unlikely to don a pith helmet instead of his latest protective lid. His captain, however, may be more amenable to seeking to channel the spirits of his cricketing ancestors.If there is an occasion to eclipse Stan McCabe's reputation at Trent Bridge, this match provides it.