It is not as if nobody could have seen this coming. Cricket is littered with players who have struggled to cope with perhaps the two most difficult roles – opening batter and captain – even when they have not been thrust into them unexpectedly and temporarily.
That Dan Lawrence and Ollie Pope are flailing – both in the sense they are floundering and that their innings on day one here had them swinging in a wild and uncontrolled way – can be a surprise only to those who believe there are no situations bravado cannot conquer.
