One win in six Tests before an abrupt ending mean Joe Root’s side have more questions than answers as Australia tour looms
During the discussions that preceded the postponement of England’s one-day series in South Africa last December, Tom Harrison is said to have sent an email to Ashley Giles, with their South African counterparts still included on the chain, asking who exactly was running the tour.
It transpired the answer to this pointed question from the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board to his director of cricket – albeit one unlikely to have been tapped out in reply – was their players. Covid-19 had breached the team hotel and, with fears over what this could mean for onward travel so close to Christmas, Eoin Morgan’s men simply downed tools.