The magic and mystery of English cricket

Nothing in cricket is quite as visceral, even quite as primeval, as the confrontation between a batsmen of the highest class and a bowler of the greatest velocity. Sometimes, as with a Colin Croft or a Charlie Griffith or Lillee and Thomson at their snarling fastest, this can be streaked with nastiness. Broken bones and shattered confidence is part of the point; the goal of the matter. But sometimes it is just different; somehow purer. Mike Atherton’s famous confrontation with Alan Donald falls into that category.

And so to Saturday at Lord’s, always the highlight of the English summer, but rarely, even in the long history of the famous old ground, quite as compelling as this. Sporting Australian green, Steve Smith, the world’s greatest current batsman – with apologies to Virat Kohli – and plausibly the second-finest Australian batsman of all time. There’s a conversation to be had about that, at least.