In a sport full of them, field settings are, to be frank, one of cricket’s nerdier elements. They are more subtle than sexy, full of nuance but seldom newsworthy, an appreciation of which all but the watching badger can probably take or leave without enjoyment of game or spectacle suffering a great deal.
And so to anyone tuning into this most-hyped Ashes series with an interest leaning more towards sport-liker than cricket-lover, it might have been slightly perplexing that across its first three days so much of the chatter has focused not, as billed, on the duel between bombastic English batting and an all-star Australian attack, but on how many catchers might be lurking in front of square or quite what that bloke is doing at deep backward point so early in the day.
