“The dream is always the same,” says Joel Goodsen at the start of Risky Business. And it is, even if everyone’s version is different. He dreams of missing an exam that will ruin his future. Others can’t find their batting kit when they’re due in the middle, or have to flee an enemy who is always right behind them. They wake, they stumble through their day, then back into the halls of sleep.
Australia’s class of Headingley 2019 would have had some dreams after Ben Stokes pulled off his last-day miracle. After one night’s sleep their head coach Justin Langer made them watch the whole innings again, the way they fell apart. Tim Paine, then the captain, spoke much later of how often it still came to mind. And then, at Lord’s in 2023, there it is again.
