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The absence of the tourists’ newspaper press pack because of Covid rules means we will miss their shared insight
The first Test against India starts on Wednesday at Trent Bridge, with barely an ahem; let alone a ta-da. It has been a peculiarly modest buildup to a five-Test series, to what Virat Kohli calls “the absolute pinnacle of the game”. This is no reflection on India, but on a sport-soaked summer, the Euros wallchart barely pulled from the fridge before the Olympic supplement kicked down the door, demanding immediate attention. Wimbledon barely got a look-in.
Throw in a vat of international white-ball men’s cricket, a women’s multi-format international series and then the Hundred, which seems to be shouting at me every time I pass the living room, and the weight of sport is almost overpowering. It is possible to flick from the Tokyo velodrome to the rhythmic gymnastics to two Hundred games and back to the Olympics again without clocking either the rising or setting sun. Certainly, my children are giving it their best shot. Continue reading...