T
he coming of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to these Ashes is becoming its juiciest non-story. They arrive each Test with a trumpet blast of averages; they loom for a time with an ominous certainty; and somehow it is all staved off, adjourned to another day.
On the eve of this fourth Test, the preconditions seemed to reach critical. Pat Cummins observed that Smith and Labuschagne “had moved their hotel pillows into the nets”. They were observed, heads together, speaking that peculiar cricket esperanto of theirs, doubtless finishing one another’s sentences. The arcana of batting is their shared delight, their creed and code.
• Mike Atherton: Broad milestone rewards Stokes’s bold decision
Despite having restricted the Australian duo to one score of more than fifty