When you reach a certain age you start measuring life in cricket summers, bringing memories of old acquaintances
The first Test of an English summer always has a certain frisson – who is shaping up and who might be shipping out? Will that debutant be able to make his mark? Will that old-timer still be able to cut it? Anticipation builds and the news cycle swirls in the run-up. Now here it is, the opening act.
High summer lies ahead, ready to spill its stories like when they slice open the shark in Jaws. Look – is that a Ben Duckett double century next to that number plate? And over there, is that … it is – Farhan Ahmed poking out from behind that chewed rubber dinghy with a five-fer on Test debut. How has that happened?
