After a chastening summer on home soil, some had written off the opener but a double century in Galle was well timed with an Ashes series looming

Should I stay or should I go? It’s better to burn out than to fade away? Then again, once it’s gone, it’s gone.

The inexorable issue of retirement lurks for every professional sportsperson. More naggingly, the question of when exactly is the right time to step away from the pinnacle of their game – the very same one that has in most cases been played since early childhood – is a notoriously tricky one to wrangle.