As soon as Harry Brook was called up as cover, this one-day series became a play within a play, a spin-off with the glamour of the Colbys in their 1980s shoulder-padding prime. And in episode one, a crushing eight-wicket defeat by New Zealand, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone snuck the best reviews though neither as sparkling as Devon Conway’s and Daryl Mitchell’s match-winning centuries.
Tom Latham won the toss and bowled, so Malan marched out with Brook after Jason Roy, another with a question mark floating above his head, suffered a back spasm before play, and Jonny Bairstow was rested with a shoulder twinge. After a watchful start against tight New Zealand bowling, Malan eased into his work, snatching two fours off Tim Southee’s third over. Now he was centre stage, here a drive past Matt Henry’s toes for four, there an effortless pull for four in front of square – just a man pulling off his velvet bow tie after a dinner cruise on the Hudson river.
