It is the UK that is living through a cold snap, but in balmy Perth they were playing in a snow globe. The scenery was static, solid, but everything else was constantly getting shaken up, bits flying in unpredictable directions. The crowd roared, commentators gibbered, the glitter never settled.
Unlike the first day England were not batting at the start, though they were not long delayed. At which point a pattern quickly emerged, one that almost perfectly repeated that established on the previous day, while also being completely different. The bowler who was useless was good, the marginal, unconvincing snickometer-based review that was not out was now given. Some things were precisely the same (Australia’s tactics against England’s tail, how the tail reacted to Australia’s tactics) and, at the same time, completely the opposite (the outcome).
