If they are noisy, they are usually well behaved, though it was boorish to say the least when they booed umpire Asad Rauf for making an incorrect leg before decision near the end. It was critical(ish), but the real damage had been done earlier. If the players accept decisions graciously, as they did on this occasion, the supporters might display similar manners.

A few more thousand are due to arrive in Colombo and a few more after that for the final Test at the ground in Galle, which has been rebuilt after the tsunami. England are not simply the best supported side, they seem to be sometimes the only supported side (India in India apart). Live audiences at Test cricket are slightly worrying - though it is said that television ones are going up.

The UK's booming economy, the comparatively large disposable incomes of people who have retired early, an urge to do something apart from simply sunbathe on holiday and a nation increasingly mad about sport are said to be among the main reasons for such fervent following. Two of those things, at least, may be changing. But the SSC Ground at Colombo on Sunday will once more reverberate to the chants of the Barmy Army, a force which in beer and sun seems to have all the equipment it needs.