When Haseeb Hameed was dropped after a horror Ashes series that saw him score just 80 runs in four Tests as England were hammered 4-0 by Australia, the opener vowed that he would 'find a way to get back up from rock bottom'.
And not only did he respond by scoring 1,235 runs at an average of almost 60 to help Nottinghamshire earn promotion back to Division One of the County Championship, he did so at a much quicker rate.
Hameed's career strike-rate in first-class cricket is 41.59 and that drops to 32.02 in Tests - not surprising for a player once nicknamed 'Baby Boycott' - but last season he scored his runs at 62.40.
And while his new approach is much better suited to the new 'Bazball' style of play England have adopted under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, Hameed says it is a realisation he came to himself after his Ashes nightmare.
"I came back from that Australia tour and was clear how I was going to go about my game: look to score runs at every opportunity and accept the fact that everyone gets out," he said. "We [England] went into our shells a bit.
"We got a bit defensive, a bit 'survival mode' and as a result we all suffered. Now it's almost like, if in doubt you take the other option, you try and put the pressure back on them. You take the positive option and you'll be backed for it.
"That's a key change in our cricket system in general. The interesting thing for me is it coincides with a similar shift that I've made at a similar time.
"You have your typical Test match opener, which is what I was trying to play like before, but there is also a side of me – which maybe a few more people have seen now – which takes me back to my junior days… a side that enjoys hitting the ball.
"Especially against some of the best bowlers in the world you're going to face good balls that will get you out, so the other balls you may as well try to cash in, score runs and put the opposition under pressure – which is what I've tried to do. I took that into the season with Notts and it was a good season for me."
Hameed impressed as he struck a 145 off 172 balls for the England Lions in a warm-up match against the senior side ahead of their tour of Pakistan and the 26-year-old has once again been tasked with captaining the Lions in their upcoming series against Sri Lanka A.
"The way I look at things, I had one bad tour," he added. "But a lot of very, very good players have had one bad tour. Why can't I get better?
"It's happened, but it's not the complete journey. I'm not 35, 36, Inshallah I've got another 15 years of cricket left in me. I'm hoping a long period of that is playing international cricket for England, that has never changed.
"I'll have my own style of course [captaining the Lions], but the brand that Stokesy and Co have implemented is now the England brand, whether you're with the Lions or the Test side. This whole idea of playing to win and being prepared to lose the game in order to win, 100 per cent I'll try to replicate that."
