The most threatening side in the group might just be Afghanistan, whose Australia encounters are increasingly spicy after Maxwell’s double-century heist all but knocked out Afghanistan in 2023, followed by Afghanistan returning the favour in the T20 World Cup nine months later.
Through a one-day World Cup in 2023, through a T20 World Cup in 2024, through a Test summer that sat between them, and through the lead-ups and warm-ups before all of the above, the same three fast bowlers showed up almost all of the time.
Fast bowling is a horrifically taxing art, and the mad operators who pursue it across any level of the game share a gruesome delight in cataloguing their lifetime’s injuries, discarding sneakers and peeling back socks and rolling up trouser legs to show you toes bent sideways or lurid half-moons of scars around ankles or knees.
The apparent plan, if one could honour it with the designation, was to emanate a smiling confidence that England’s top players would keep coasting to success in the format based on good vibes from the Test team and a bit of T20 franchise touring.
Resentment continues about Australia boycotting bilateral matches over Taliban human rights abuses, though Cricket Australia still haven’t found the moral fortitude to forfeit tournament points.
