"WE’RE the insurgents now. We have to build the capability to mobilise and to organise. We have to prise apart the alliance that gave us Brexit."

Sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it? Sinister even. Menacing certainly. Worryingly like the language of a terrorist. Yet the speaker is a world statesman, our own former Prime Minister, the three-time victor at the polls, Tony Blair. Maybe he picked up this way of talking, this way of thinking, in his years as Special Envoy to the Middle East, the world’s terrorism hotbed, even though his mission, backed by the US, the UN, Russia and the EU was Peace.

At best, his call for “insurgents” to “mobilise” and “prise apart” their target suggests a fair means or foul crusade to overthrow the democratic Brexit vote. It hints at dirty tricks, anything to reverse the will of the people – to which, of course, he pays due lip service, declaring: “You can’t change this decision [Brexit] unless it becomes clear that the British people have had a change of mind because they have seen the reality of the alternative.”

Of course the “reality” – the full reality – of the alternative will take years, even decades, to emerge. It can only properly be judged after a period in which Britain has once again functioned as a fully-independent nation. Meanwhile, there will be good Brexit moments and bad Brexit moments.

Many governments lose popularity mid-term – the “reality” not matching the promises. Should we re-run the poll? Long in prospect, the EU referendum brought out a massive 72 per cent of the electorate, who delivered a clear four per cent majority for Brexit. On just a 50 per cent poll, the referendum that established the Welsh Assembly delivered a mere 0.6 per cent majority. And who was the Labour leader who endorsed that result as final? The newly-confessed “insurgent”, Tony Blair.

AS a lifelong cricket fan, am I in despair over England’s first ever defeat by Bangladesh? Not at all. Cricket needs these turning points. Test cricket is ailing. It would have expired long ago had England and Australia, the first two international adversaries, remained top dogs forever.

Where most competitive sports are all about winning or losing, cricket is chiefly about – well, cricket. Though the cricket lover wants his side to win, the greater pleasure is to see good cricket played. Hence the applause cricket fans readily give to opposition players.

Bangladesh’s 108 run victory was magnificent. Their chutzpah in opening their bowling in both games of the series with teenage spinner Mehedi Hasan, a Test debutant at 18 in the first game, but who mesmerised England to end up man of the series, was staggering. A star is born, apart from an underdog cricket nation elevated.

What did depress me, greatly, was the sledging between England’s (and Durham’s) Ben Stokes and Bangladeshi batsman Sabbir Rahman. Even worse than the offence was England captain Alastair Cook’s apparent support for it. He said: “To me, people love it. That’s what people watch.” Well, if cricket now depends on players bad-mouthing each other, its spirit is dead.