Sport can be glorious; it can be cruel. It can be many contr...

Sport can be glorious; it can be cruel. It can be many contrasting things over the course of a lengthy contest, both wonderful and terrible, dramatic and dull, it can lift the spirits and try the soul. “It is not enough to succeed,” said the writer Gore Vidal, “others must fail.” Every action brings a reaction, for every winner there is a loser. From Old Trafford, Pat Cummins exited with the Ashes in safe-keeping; Ben Stokes left knowing his chance of glory had gone.

From wintry skies, amid increasing gloom, with covers on the square, “super-sopper” machines abandoned on the outfield and slowly sinking into the mud and a smattering of hardy spectators huddled under brollies in the stands, a hard rain fell on Manchester