Boxing Day Test’s pitch and play provide drama, even without heaving crowds

Late on the first day of the Boxing Day Test, the bat, baggy green cap and signature polarised sunglasses of the late Dean Jones were propped against a chair in front of Australia’s dugout. But it was a day on which even the most mercurial batsman would have struggled in the face of quite brilliant bowling.

India finished it 1-36 following the loss of Mayank Agarwal for a duck, after the tourists bowled Australia out for 196 in an exhilarating display. Yet for all the uncertainty of the strokeplay, it was an afternoon that confirmed the obvious on several fronts.

Firstly, any bowling attack containing Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Ashwin is a potent one. Secondly, Test cricket is much more fun on surfaces offering assistance to the bowlers….