Australia v South Africa: first Test, day one – live

Good morning from Brisbane. The sun is shining, the palms are swaying, the sky is paradise blue. It is a million miles away from the lead-up to the Ashes Test a year ago, when it rained Biblically for two weeks straight and I was starting to pair off lemurs and marmosets just in case. It is also very mild for Brisbane, which in summer usually has the heat and overwhelming humid of an armpit. I’ am not a meteorologist, but presumably the cool summer system that has made the southern states into a frigid hellscape for the past few weeks has also had a gentling effect on the north, because nothing all week is forecast to get above the high 20s in temperature, and the humidity is relatively low.

That is the setting of the scene, if you’re watching along on television or reading along while doing other things, and wanting to know what the players are feeling. Which players? Those of Australia and South Africa, one of the strong rivalries in the small world of Test cricket, in their first series since the sandpaper business in 2018. Nobody remembers that, surely? It’s not like it has been in the news ever since.