Awake at 5.15 on Monday morning, by 10.45 he stood arms aloft in the middle of the University of Birmingham hockey pitch, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist after England’s 6-3 win over South Africa.

“It isn’t easy but if anything is going to get you up and ready at that time, it is the chance of medal,” he smiled.

Bandurak admitted sleep hasn’t always been straightforward during a “surreal” fortnight which has altered horizons and transformed a career in which he has had to be patient.

Capped at every England age group, the 29-year-old finally made his senior debut earlier this year. He has gone on to score 20 goals in as many matches, 11 of them coming during a Games which he finished as top scorer.

“I’ve loved this experience, more than I ever could have imagined. It’s been surreal,” he said.

It had been a particularly restless 36 hours for the Wolverhampton ace and his team-mates, among them Telford and Wrekin’s David Goodfield, since Saturday night’s agonising 3-2 defeat to Australia.

England were 2-0 up against the six-time champions before being overhauled and Bandurak admitted to having been wide awake until gone 5am Sunday morning, reflecting on the disappointment.

“Everyone who was here on Saturday or watched the game knows how gutted we were,” he said. “To turn it around in 36 hours and face a tough, physical South African side was never going to be straightforward.”

It was far from it. At times in an occasionally barmy second half, England were hanging on in whatever way they could.

There was certainly no shortage of entertainment for the crowd which packed out the 5,000-seater temporary stand for the 9am start.

Six goals were scored in the second quarter, five of them in the space of seven minutes as England trailed twice, hit back and went ahead only to concede on the stroke of half-time.

The second half was far more composed, Phillip Roper restoring the home nation’s advantage after play had been kept alive following a penalty corner.

England keeper Oliver Payne then saved crucially from Dayaan Cassiem early in the fourth quarter and though Chris Griffith shot wide when clean through, Sam Ward squeezed home his second goal of the match for a two-goal cushion before skipper Zach Wallace put the icing on the cake, converting a penalty stroke with 90 seconds remaining.

“It was a little bit mental, that second quarter,” said Bandurak. “Every chance seemed to go in. It was end-to-end.

“But that is what medal games are about, there is so much on the line. With this one, it is all or nothing.

“We weren’t on it at all in the first half but thankfully, we managed to dictate things a bit better in the second.

“The first half was one of those where we just had to grind it out. Thankfully, we came out the right side of it.”

Bandurak, who began his career playing for Cannock and is now with Holcombe in the England Hockey League, celebrations will be tempered by the thought of what comes next. The next world cup is only five months away.

“This is the problem,” he said. “You get a taste for it and the targets change.

“It’s no longer wanting to get selected, or wanting to perform, it is wanting to win it.

“When we wake-up to get the bus home on Tuesday, we are going to be thinking: ‘OK, World Cup’. This is what this group is all about.

“This was my first major international tournament. I am just very thankful I could find myself in a good place, mentally and physically, to put in the performances I have.

“My job is to put the ball in the goal and thankfully that has worked. It’s been the best two weeks of my life, outside of getting married. Nothing in my career can come close to this. Until the next one.”