Now it is worth England turning up in Australia this autumn. In winning two Tests in a row against 'Big Boys' for the first time since 1985, Alec Stewart's side have shown they are no longer soft touches, but can scrap for victory in tight games on seamers' pitches.
They can even be hailed as the Comeback Kings, for no team in modern Test cricket have been like this England one. Although Headingley saw only a minimal deficit, it was the eighth time in their last 12 wins that they have come from behind on first innings; and the series win was another rare achievement, their first from behind since 1981.
The chemistry seems to be at its best when England are close to losing, rather than winning, in both match and series: that is when they summon up their greatest intensity of will. It also helps if England are at home and in the field, as they were at Headingley, and Darren Gough is present. For the crowd play their part in igniting the spark, which Gough attracts as a kind of lightning conductor at fine-leg, and then conveys to the other players when he walks up to bowl.
Offering a proper financial incentive at last has done no harm either, instead of a poke in the eye or a packet of peanuts, as was the custom of the generous old TCCB. Yet there must be more to this phenomenon of 'coming back', because England have been practising it since 1994, though quite what 'it' is even Team England's sports psychologist Steve Bull cannot pinpoint.
``If there was a simple answer, somebody out there would be a millionaire,'' said Bull. ``All we can do is talk about the basics and make sure we get them right.'' Bull is not aware of any team in professional sport who have made such a habit of winning from a half-time position of a goal or two down, or 18-3 behind on points; ``and cricket is such a unique game that a parallel might not be very useful,'' he adds.
He will say ``there was a strong psychological turning-point when England forced a draw at Old Trafford''. But the tide did not turn then: South Africa, after all, scored 374 when they were sent in at Trent Bridge, at which stage Ladbroke's were quoting an England win at 14-1. Some better umpiring at Headingley might have changed the outcome, too: for example, if Mr Akhtar had heard that the old experimental law, which could grant lbw even if the ball hit the bat first, had been changed.
What is certain is that England are developing a resilient spirit, like children who are trying to ride a bike and keep falling off but will not give up. To this they must now add two qualities, the first of which is to win in the conventional way, from in front. Sri Lanka on Thursday week would be the ideal start.
Or as Graham Gooch puts it, ``England have to feel comfortable about getting on top and staying there. That means especially being more intense in our first innings.'' Against South Africa, England fell off their perch on the two occasions when they were on top, at 249 for one after the opening day at Edgbaston, and on the first day at Headingley when they chose to make 181 for three a lot more nail-biting. If England are to advance from Comeback Kings to regular winners, they have to recognise that it is freakish to win a series after holding the upper hand for less than half the time.
The second stage, if England are to compete with Australia, is for the bowling attack to be augmented so as to win on hard pitches. England's last four victories have all occurred in low-scoring games - South Africa's 374 was the highest total - in which three bowlers have taken all the wickets for England.
In effect, Gough and Angus Fraser matched South Africa's pair of opening bowlers, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, and together with the hot-and-cold Dominic Cork carried their side home. All the other bowlers England used in the series took six wickets at 127 runs each.
It will be in England's favour, though, that the Ashes series will be completed before the second week of January; high Australian summer has been reserved for the serious business of bun-fighting. England can therefore hope for something more in the pitches than would have been the case if, say, the Adelaide Test had been staged at its traditional time in soaring temperatures. It was on the hard pitches of Old Trafford, and Lord's once it had dried, that England were at their worst.
Brisbane in mid-November could well be humid enough for the ball to swing, and Australia's seam support for Glenn McGrath is nothing special at present. The second Test venue of the WACA is unique, partly for its high clay content, though again in early season the bounce should not be excessive, but also for its wind. The challenge for Cork will be to bowl disciplined outswing into the Fremantle Doctor, aided by the best flight bowler England can muster, Robert Croft.
Provided Graham Thorpe returns to replace Graeme Hick, who still seems able to club all but the best bowling, and provided the attitude which Nasser Hussain exemplified at Headingley becomes the norm, England should have the top order batting to draw Tests they cannot win in Australia. It is the lower order collapses which have to be cured.
England's pair of opening batsmen were as integral to victory as their opening bowlers. Mark Butcher and Mike Atherton anchored England in all three of the Tests they played, whereas South Africa's opening pair of Gary Kirsten and Gerry Liebenberg managed one innings over 21 between them. It was a wonderfully bad piece of selection that the tourists never opened with Jacques Kallis or brought in Brian McMillan before it was too late.
The tour, their first of five Tests abroad since readmission, was also too long for South Africa. Dr Bacher sent over Peter Pollock, chairman of selectors and lay preacher, to concentrate the players' minds over the last month, but they had been on the road too long, since last September. England made the same mistake when they last turned up in Australia, jaded before they started. This time must be different, if their new and admirable resilience is not to be wasted.