The Ashes: This Really Is As Good As It Gets

All across the country this afternoon struggling club sides could cheer themselves with the thought that once their batsmen had survived for 112 deliveries they were doing better than Australia managed in their first innings in Nottingham this week. Australia’s capitulation in 18.3 overs – a Nelson of deliveries – might just be the most extraordinary thing any of us have ever seen on a cricket field. Even now, 48 hours later, it still seems shocking.

And when England motored to 274/4 by the end of that first, astonishing, day it occurred to me that this might well have been the single best day of English test cricket in my lifetime. It was hard to think of many that could even rival it. Even Boxing Day in Melbourne five years ago – when England dismissed the old enemy for 98 and cruised to 157/0 by the close – seemed routine when compared to this Trent Bridge marvel.