Big picture: After the détente, brace for detonation
Is it just me, or is it a bit unnervingly quiet around here? After a ten-day cooling-off period, all the froth and bombast of those first three Tests has dissipated, to be replaced by a more demure focus as England and Australia gird their loins and prepare for round four of a ceaselessly compelling Ashes campaign.
Perhaps it’s the sense of battlelines drawn, of weaknesses probed and strengths acknowledged, that has contributed to this relative period of détente. Or maybe it’s simply the calm before another storm – a chance to let all those antagonistic column inches and debates about the Spirit of Cricket blow off into the ether, while leaving the women to take charge of the Ashes narrative for a few days. Either way, this series interlude could not have come at a more opportune moment for both sets of combatants, after a…