'If you beat Australia, they quickly turn like the crowd in Rocky IV'

Graeme Swann has fond memories of the one moment in his career when he was able to kick back from the struggle of winning and losing a Test match, and simply soak in the acclaim of a job well done.

The scene was Sydney, on the final morning of the 2010-11 tour, with the Ashes already in the bag. England had resumed needing just three wickets to wrap up their third innings victory of the series, and the SCG - bereft of home fans who had long since accepted the inevitable - had instead been transformed into an Anglican Cathedral of acclaim.

"The Barmy Army were incredible on that trip, I've never heard noise like it on that day at Sydney," says Swann, England's Ashes-winning spinner turned BT Sport pundit. "Paul Collingwood was sent down to field in front of the Barmy Army, rather than third slip. You'd never have the luxury normally, but Straussy [England captain, Andrew Strauss] said, 'it's your last day of Test cricket, get down there and enjoy it'."

If such a finale sounds improbably idyllic, then it is only fair to point out that that 2010-11 tour was the exception that proved the rule of England's Ashes tours. That triumph sits sandwiched between 5-0 whitewashes on the 2006-07 and 2013-14 trips, while just three of England's current tourists (James Anderson, Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad) had even been born at the time of their previous victorious campaign - Mike Gatting's 2-1 win in 1986-87.

"A lot of the time on my two tours of Australia, the Barmy Army were the only smiles we got in the day," says ESPN's Mark Butcher, who was twice defeated on tours Down Under in 1998-99 and 2002-03. "Come hell or high water, rain or shine, they were supporting a team that was invariably getting a hiding, so they played a huge part in keeping us going when we were out in the middle, and runs were being racked up left, right and centre."

Instead, the more familiar refrain on England's Ashes tours has been the sound of Aussie crowing - in the venues, around the cities, and even at the airports, where immigrations officials have rarely been backwards in coming forwards to "welcome" their Pommie guests. It all adds up to a pervasive sense of hostility that can only serve to unsettle the unwary tourist.