Thirteen Times Lucky

GH sees England uprooted

In cricket, individual ascendancies rather creep up on you. For a while they are drowned out by the noise of the collective struggle, the knowledge of the influence of luck and chance. Then, one day, like someone caught in flagrante, or on kiss cam, it suddenly out in the open: bowler x has the wood on batter y, and everyone seems to know it.

Viz Pat Cummins versus Joe Root. They have been at each other for years on both sides of the world. They know each other’s games. They respect one another’s reputations. They understand their destiny to meet, as frontline bowler and top-order batter. Both have recollections of success to encourage them. But over Root, Cummins’s shadow has gradually lengthened: his thirteenth dismissal of England’s champion today pushed the visitors deep into darkness.