Kane Williamson made 93 and Shoaib Bashir took four wickets as the Crowe-Thorpe trophy got off to an entertaining start

Right, anthems sung, players out. Chris Woakes has the ball. Cricket imminent.

“Why is Bashir playing instead of Leach?” harrumphs Paul McIntyre. Well, because he’s England’s first-choice spinner in all conditions, as Ben Stokes put it in Pakistan last month.