SIMON SWEETMAN

The editor of Cricket Statistician analyses recent events
It’s not the despair. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand. The words of John Cleese in Clockwise ring truer than ever after Australia rapidly dashed those tiny forlorn hopes on the fifth day at Adelaide. At least this time the blotting out of hope on the last day was mercifully quick, snuffed out immediately as Root and Woakes went straight away.
And, yes, that tiny glimmer of hope is immediately replaced by another even tinier one, as we can all tell ourselves stories. It’s n...