It seems a little distant now, a little by-the-by, that this Ashes series was billed, among other things, as a referendum on Zak Crawley’s England career. The tour he was groomed for. The hidden sub-menace in his one-year central contract offer. Here was a chance to justify the high-wire walk of the last few years, to find an answer, perhaps, to the eternal question: is Zak Crawley actually any good?
In the event other things have happened, other warning lights blinked, other elements of England’s collective failure creaked more urgently. Shoaib Bashir, the project spinner, plucked from social media for this tour, is in the 12 for Sydney. He hasn’t taken a wicket in a proper game since July. Good luck babe!
