So, just two Tests into an Ashes series that was preceded by a winter of worry about how eight might go into seven, the answer has become blatantly clear: whittle it down to six.
From struggling to accommodate all their batters, England have now found room for an extra bowler, having announced a rejigged team for tomorrow’s must-win Third Test at Headingley that includes a spruced-up attack and, perhaps more intriguingly than any of the changes in personnel, a promotion to No3 for Harry Brook.
