Before this series began, when the possibilities were still infinite, the canvas blank and the excitement still set in the unknown, this was the kind of day England dreamed of. The kind they had inflicted on opponents the world over in the last year, but not quite yet on the world’s best team.
Here, though, for four-and-a-half brutal hours either side of tea, England were simply rampant and Australia, huddled in a splatter of fraught, hopeless conversation between almost every ball, could find no answers.
