Outgoing TCP editor Alex Narey says there were encouraging signs for England’s top order before yesterday’s inevitable collapse

Welcome back to England, Test match batting! Despite their sudden middle-order collapse yesterday morning, Friday at Edgbaston served up the blueprint for how to bat in the longest form of the game. Application, discipline and concentration – the three traits were there in aplomb.
In the build-up to this Ashes opener, England’s top-order was again under the microscope. If collapses in the Caribbean earlier in the year were considered mere...