Had Michael Vaughan been chosen for England's coming tour of West Indies, and there was a strong rumour that he would be, it could only be concluded that the selectors had held their meeting in a cork-lined room in tribute to Marcel Proust and his masterpiece series of novels, Remembrance of Things Past.
It is the England selectors, traditionally, who are weighed down by sentiment and nostalgia. I remember David Gilbert, the former Australian fast bowler, telling me not very long ago that if David Boon was English he would still be playing for England.
So it's good to see Australia suffering the same affliction with Matthew Hayden. There was a curious moment, early on the fourth day's play in the final Test against South Africa in Sydney, when Hayden left the field after chopping on a delivery from Morne Morkel.
As he returned wearily to the dressing room – though he had been out there only a short time for his 39 – the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Even his wife, Kellie, looked on the brink of tears, applauding with her head slightly to one side, as her husband made his way home.
And, for just a moment, Hayden went to raise his bat, as if to acknowledge that this was his final Test innings, or at least his last in Australia. Will he now tour South Africa next month and England next summer?
Hayden, 37, who has a Test average of just over 50, has scored 117 runs at 19.56 in this series and his decline goes back much longer than that. It will, of course, surprise those who saw him in England in 2005 that he is still around.
He had an awful time until coming good with a century in the last match at The Oval and, like all left-handers, was troubled by Andrew Flintoff bowling reverse swing round the wicket.
Hayden has refused to go gentle into that good night. He has continued to blast and blaze away to self-destruction, refusing to reign himself in for the benefit of him or his team.
He had shown some caution in the first innings in Sydney, when he spent almost three hours compiling 31. But in his last innings in the series he was back to his old belligerent self, thumping seven fours. He is – or was – a great player. But one who is difficult to warm to.
But for all his failing in this series, and those of Michael Hussey, the Australian batting has held up pretty well because of Simon Katich, Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, who almost chopped on first ball from the impressive Morkel for a king pair this morning.
The bowling has been the problem for Australia this winter, with both Stuart Clark (right elbow) and Brett Lee, who bowled with a broken foot, missing matches and receiving surgery.
But the hostile Peter Siddle and the left-armer Mitchell Johnson, with pace, bounce and the ability to cut the ball, if not bring it back into the right-hander, will be tough opponents for England next summer. Johnson is also a great athlete.
And that is not forgetting the return of Clarke, Lee and Andrew Symonds, not to mention the possibility of a podgy genius called Shane Warne making a far-fetched return.
In the course of a master-class this morning, in which he bowled to Ian Healy, Warne demonstrated not only his full, devastating repertoire but also his ability to open up batsmen over a period of time, from bowling wide over the wicket to wide round the wicket. That's an awesome wing-span.
We have seen this winter that Australia can be beaten by the best teams, South Africa and India. Unfortunately the best does not include England at the moment. In my book Australia are still the narrow favourites to win the Ashes series next summer. And if Warne could be talked out of retirement England's odds would drift a long way out.
