Rawalpindi re-creation pays dividends for Stokes' out-the-box thinking

Robinson and Stokes come up trumps to end Khawaja knock

- Malik Ouzia

IN A SPORT full of them, field settings are, to be frank, one of cricket’s nerdier elements. They are more subtle than sexy, full of nuance but seldom newsworthy, an appreciation of which all but the watching badger can probably take or leave without enjoyment of game or spectacle suffering a great deal.

And so to anyone tuning into this most hyped Ashes series with an interest leaning more towards sport-liker than cricket-lover, it might have been slightly perplexing that across its first three days so much of the chatter has focused not, as billed, on the duel between bombastic English batting and an all-star Australian attack, but on how many catchers might be lurking in front of square or quite what that bloke is doing at deep backward point so early in the day.

Alas, with so little to separate the sides across their first innings — just seven runs, in fact — it is in the field that the first battle of this cricketing culture war has been fought (probably a welcome change for Pat Cummins, whose team are also facing a more general one over their apparent wokeness back home).