It was so hot in the Trent Bridge indoor school that even the walls were sweating. But it was here, out of the harsh sun, that Ben Stokes addressed the media for the first time since the Lord's Test against New Zealand.
Plenty has happened since, with not very much to show for it. Stokes and Gus Atkinson pushed past a casual midnight curfew at the end of a 115-run win inside four days that, in the end, was deemed to warrant little more than a slapped wrist from the ECB. In that time, a Stokes-less England were thrashed by 253 runs at The Kia Oval as rumours cooled from outright retirement, to resignation, to restitution of sorts.
Naturally, Stokes offered more of the same. Red-faced, not through embarrassment but after batting for close to an hour in 38-degree heat, he used words like "process" and "speculation" to bob and weave questions on the curfew and the events from that early Monday morning that sent the ECB spiralling, momentarily fearing the story and their talismanic allrounder was getting away from them.
There was, however, a remaining grey area that grew darker. Given the opportunity to reaffirm his future as captain, Stokes focussed instead on the coming week and the Test housed within it. A winner-takes-all bout for the Crowe-Thorpe trophy that has losers-go-home connotations for the likes of Stokes, head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key.
"I am very clear that I am focused on the outcome of this week," Stokes said, when asked if he was committed to seeing out the existing terms of his central contract, which runs through to the end of the 2027 summer. It was a purposeful evasion to a question with no clear downside.
It was later, speaking to Test Match Special, that Stokes revealed a nagging sense that his time as Test captain might be over soon. For the first time since his appointment in 2022, he has been wondering what this team looks like with him in it purely as a cricketer. Crucially, he has also wondered if simply playing, as he did for Durham during the second Test, would satiate him.
"The England captaincy is one of those things where I'm 35 now and, even before this stuff all happened, I thought could I ever see myself playing for England and not being captain?" Stokes said.
"It's a question I've never really been able to answer. Because it's been such a big part of this part of my career. You look at others who have stepped away from captaincy and kept playing - I don't really know. I love playing for England. I love being captain of this team, and that's where I'm at with everything.
"This is one thing I've always asked myself, even before all this stuff. Could I see myself as playing as just a player, after doing it for so long? I dunno…"
That these are pre-existing thoughts, brought to the fore rather than triggered by the Chelsea nightclub incident, offers neat insight into the last two weeks from Stokes' perspective. It was early on in these investigations that Stokes felt the situation had been overblown, even advising those concerned for him to not worry about the media coverage. But when it caused him to miss a Test and leave his team in the lurch, there was embarrassment mixed with anger that it had come to this.
Apologies have been made to the squad, and to Joe Root, who cut a forlorn figure at The Kia Oval. Of the people Stokes has let down, Root might be the most upsetting of them for him to square. Best mates, who have been there for the rough and the smooth of their lives, let alone careers. Friends don't keep count, but Root has certainly been there for more of Stokes' roughs, than vice versa, in their professional years.
It was instructive that, at no point, did Stokes mention the ECB, instead name-checking "Rob", "Brendon", "Gus", "the team" and "fans of English cricket" as those who have been short-changed by his actions. A rift between Stokes and the governing body has clearly re-opened. It was there in the wake of the Bristol street fight in 2017, when he was surprised by how little they backed him. He is now back to being wary.
It's a complicated stance for an England captain to adopt, particularly as he is now back under the ECB's auspices, albeit not totally within their control. Stokes did not do the ECB's in-house media, which would have closed the loop after Key and McCullum gave their public-facing debriefs on the night after Lord's. Stokes talking "direct to the fans" - the ECB strategy underpinning their move towards in-house interviews - would have been a means to present a united front.
Both Key and McCullum were heavily criticised in the comments section below their ECB interviews, with even Test great Stuart Broad piling in. Perennially online, Stokes would have clocked the hate they were getting and decided it was not worth the hassle. He has also long held the view that he performs for the ECB out in the middle, and nowhere else.
At the same time, it is via social media that the England captain has seen just how much the public have taken his side. He was basically bragging when he spoke of "fans of not just English cricket, but cricket in general" showing him overwhelming support.
He will get that kind of support on Thursday at Trent Bridge in what is, without question, the most important Test of his career. By Stokes' own admission, he does not know what the future will hold. And while he's working out how much he can give to Test cricket, the job, and the satisfaction he can glean from it in return, that future will come quick.