Old adversaries meet against a backdrop of scandals that have left both their reputations in tatters for a series that looked like it might never happen
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It is the Ashes series that flirted with postponement but, barring unexpected late hiccups or early rain, the world’s highest ranked bowler and batsman, Pat Cummins and Joe Root, will lead their teams out to a packed Gabba on Wednesday morning to begin the latest chapter in Test cricket’s most storied rivalry.
“There’s Test
Cricket and then there’s Ashes cricket,” Root proclaimed, among the wave of pre-series interviews in which he and Cummins, the nascent home captain, have featured during a buildup period of little actual cricket. While Australia’s recent T20
World Cup victory overseas did not penetrate the zeitgeist, their public have woken up for the old enemy’s arrival and the longest format’s return after a year of remarkable patience. Both captains have smiled in the main, Root comfortably engaging with the notion that a tenure of 56 Tests and an English record 27 wins will now be defined by the next six weeks.