The last time England’s men played a one-day international at Chester‑le-Street was during that crazy heatwave two summers ago, when the mercury went north of 40C and players were left seeing pink elephants. Similar conditions appear unlikely on Tuesday, although the hosts are feeling the heat a little bit.
Sitting 2-0 down against Australia with three to play, Harry Brook’s men have no more wriggle room left in this very autumnal five-match series. So far it has been a bit of a mismatch, albeit one that was probably to be expected given some of the statistics. In the 68-run defeat at Headingley on Saturday, for example, the tourists fielded nine players with more than 100 international caps each and England just the one in Adil Rashid.
