On the eve of this first Test match of a mouthwatering summer, England captain Ben Stokes said he had stopped planning too far in advance. Having wished for a battery of eight fast bowlers to go into the Ashes, then watched half of them succumb, one by one, to varying degrees of injury, he did not see the point.
But on the opening day here at Lord’s, there was evidence to the contrary, England’s skittling of Ireland for 172 full of nods towards the Australian challenge to come.
