Updates from Headingley; play starts 11am BST
Ali Martin on ‘El Dysfunctiono’ | The Spin
Heatwave my arse! It’s a brisk 18 degrees at Headingley, with a chance of showers later in the day. We should stress this is a meteorological term, not a comment on England being a shower of the absolute variety.
And now for something completely different. A new era starts at Headingley today, one in which England will play sober, wiser cricket. Some will say this is all tish and fipsy, that Joe Root and Stephen Fleming’s England won’t be that different to Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s team. They’d be right, but a) John Cleese never uttered the phrase “and now for something partially different” and b) the branding and image of Root’s team, the thing that really matters in modern life, will be completely different.
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