Those the other side of puberty know better. Defeats in World Cups, Ashes maulings and embarrassments at the hands of chicken farmers used to be the norm, so last week's nail gnawing draw-from-the-jaws-of-defeat survival effort against New Zealand in Auckland will have come as no surprise. Here was a team in Brendon McCullum's outfit that had no right to win the series, on paper at least, but one that England allowed to dominate pretty much from the outset.
Even so, heading into the 3rd Test at Eden Park this part time member of the Barmy Army was sure Alastair Cook and his team would rise to the occasion. Win the toss, bowl them out cheaply and amass a huge lead? How quickly those feelings dissipated. One wicket fell on a painstaking day of Test cricket - my first since a rain ruined day at the Oval in the 2001 Ashes (4-1 defeat, obvs) and with that hopes of a series win were all but dashed.
It could only be England who would allow a man who had tried a failed to score a century in 19 innings at this level to score two in the space of 72 hours, but allow that England did. 'Two metre' Peter Fulton might have been playing in the last chance saloon as a Test cricketer. Now he could have a job for life. His heroics, coupled with some fairly ropey English batting, put New Zealand in sight of a first series victory over their opponents since boos greeted Nasser Hussain on the Oval balcony in 1999.
But with England being England, the story was far from over. First Joe Root and Ian Bell defied the Kiwi attack, before Matt Prior, in partnership with first Bell and then Stuart Broad, gave his side realistic hope of getting out of the game with a draw. There was the inevitable late wobble, as Kane Williamson, (an ex-clubmate of mine), snared Broad and Anderson with identical dismissals in the space of three balls. But by hook or by crook, the Sussex stopper and his county teammate Monty Panesar, survived.
It is somewhat ironic that two of Monty's most valuable contributions for England have come in a survival cause, with the famous rearguard at Cardiff against the Aussies in 2009, and now here. Further irony, should it be requested, is likely to come when the ineffective left-arm spinner is discarded by the time the next Test rolls around in May.
Prior said in the post-game interview that he isn't one for celebrating draws, but an exception ought be made here. Taken in isolation, surviving the day with only six wickets remaining is a great achievement. In the bigger picture, going a Test winter unbeaten, having earlier triumphed in India, will please Team Director Andy Flower. With back-to-back Ashes series to come, it is England who will be far better state of mind than those naughty, homework skipping Australians.
But even if you can't find the positives in any of those things, it is clear that after his 50, 100 and five catches in the match, England have the best wicketkeeper/batsman in the world in Prior. And in this life as an England cricket fan in the constant search for a silver lining, that fact shines bright and clear. Bring on the summer.