England have less pressing reason perhaps than Australia to deny the importance of their Champions Trophy 'warm-ups' - but Alastair Cook was nonetheless at pains to do so today.
England's first Group A opponents could hardly have endured a worse experience, four days before tomorrow's opener against their Ashes rivals at Edgbaston, when they were bowled out for just 65 against India in Cardiff.
By comparison, England's 2-1 NatWest Series defeat at the hands of New Zealand - their first in one-day internationals on home soil against any tourists since they lost 6-1 to Australia in 2009 - is not quite such an obvious cause for regret.
Nevertheless, Cook, pictured, was content as both teams prepared for the first of 26 matches between the two Ashes rivals over the next eight months, to broach a mutual embargo on the possible consequences of what has immediately preceded it.
"It's irrelevant, those warm-up games," he said.
"You want to find form as a team, but if you don't find form you're not going to be remembered for what happened in the warm-up games. You're going to be remembered for what happened in the actual tournament."
England have wisely avoided gloating about Australia's misfortune in Wales. Coach Ashley Giles stressed yesterday that their measured reaction was born of respect for international opposition.
Another rationale, of course, could be that England may feel they do not have that much to boast about themselves either just yet.
"Just like what happened against New Zealand ... we didn't play as well as we could have done in that series, but that will count for literally nothing starting tomorrow," said Cook.
"In the ideal world, we'd have beaten New Zealand in that series. That would have been ideal preparation, so we haven't been quite on the money that way."
Australia, without injured captain Michael Clarke and therefore led instead by George Bailey tomorrow, have more evident problems as they begin their bid for a third successive Champions Trophy title.
They will do so too at a ground on which they, and England, inevitably have mixed histories.
On Australia's credit counter, they inched a dramatic and famous World Cup semi-final there against South Africa on the way to the silverware in 1999.
England supporters will need slightly less long memories to remember the confident six-wicket semi-final victory in Birmingham over Australia in this same tournament in September 2004 - a success subsequently associated by many with the self-belief which underpinned the historic home success in the following year's Ashes.
Will tomorrow's result have a similar bearing, then, on important events still to come?
"I don't think it does, because the Champions Trophy is such an important event in itself," said the England captain.
“I think both sides will be seeing it as needing to win to get the tournament off to a good start rather than anything else, which is later in the summer."
Before then, Cook must try to help England win an ODI global trophy for the first time at their 17th attempt.
"We've spoken about trying to win a 50-over tournament," he said. "This is an opportunity to do that. Alongside the World Cup in 2015, it's a very important tournament."
Despite their opponents' troubles, Cook insists he has yet to encounter any Australia team which could be fairly described as being at a 'low ebb'.
"I haven't seen one," he added. "We all know how people can stand up and win games for sides in 50-over cricket.
"They've obviously got some very dangerous players that are going to do that."