Like most cricket fans, I assumed that Day 2 would see a general quietening. The pitch would settle down; batsmen would play more carefully, and what passes for normality in the modern game would re-establish itself. And before lunch that is exactly what happened. Lyon and Doggett defended capably without ever suggesting a big partnership. Eventually the last wicket fell, and England’s second innings got underway. As usual (!) Starc excelled himself in his opening over and removed Crawley for a pair. It was a caught-and-bowled: off-balance, with no warning whatsoever; but somehow Starc tumbled to one side away from his trajectory and hauled the ball in. When he finally retires from cricket, perhaps Circus Oz might wish to grant him an audition.

But thereafter Duckett and Pope played within themselves until lunch time. What unfolded in the afternoon session made yesterday’s riotousness seem almost tame. The primary incision was made by the redoubtable Boland. He had endured the torments of the damned on Day 1. His opening three-over spell had cost 15 in this innings. What to do? Why not bowl seventh-stump line and make the ball seam a little either way? Surely that will bring control to the innings. He can scarcely have expected the flower of England’s batting to go chasing the ball well outside off; but that is exactly what they did. In no time at all he had three wickets for nothing much. The ever-alert Smith brought back Starc as soon as the fun began, and he removed Root and Stokes to loose strokes from both. Root will be mortified by the video repeat of his dismissal. A man with 13,000 Test runs should not be waving an angled bat outside off to Mitchell Starc. The ball cannoned off the inside edge and took the stumps.

Smith kept shuffling his seamers. Doggett got into the act with a couple. And with England seven down for nothing much, it was time for the lower order to do something. Atkinson and Carse are capable batsmen, especially the former. In less than six overs they put on fifty. Here at least the despised Bazball made sense. With the innings in ruins, counterattack was the best and indeed only viable strategy. Having gone so far they might well have reined themselves in and cashed in for a long innings. But as with yesterday England’s plan seemed to be to get the home side in as quick as possible. When an early tea was taken, Australia need 205 to win the match. It will be the highest innings score so far. But it should be possible.

And it was. An injury to Khawaja caused Travis Head to put up his hand to open. The first few overs were tight enough. Thereafter it was a brutal massacre. Even by Head’s eccentric standards this was something well out of the ordinary. His 123 occupied just 83 deliveries. Bazball? Nope. He bats as did Lord Botham: block the good ones; whack the bad ones. He began with circumspection, but soon opened out into a riotous flower of fours and sixes. England lost their heads entirely. The pitch map tells its own guilty story. They sprayed the ball everywhere: especially short. There is a theory that Head is vulnerable to short balls on his body. That’s as maybe, but possibly Perth’s even, predictable bounce is not the place to try it out. By the close Head was smashing forehand volleys more suitable to Wimbledon’s centre court.

The supporting cast did their job. By the time Wetherald was out to Carse the opening stand had produced 75. In the 12th over. Labuschagne joined the South Australian and the pair hopped into as dismal a collection of half-volleys and poorly-conceived short deliveries as was ever seen in a Test match. He eventually fell to Carse, and Labuschagne finished things off, though acting skipper Smith was left to hit the winning run. After three innings more redolent of T20 cricket than Test matches, Australia ran up 2/205 in a tick over twenty-eight overs.

The fault, as the sages of the commentary box pointed out, lies with the batting. The bowlers get no rest when all 20 wickets fall in 68 overs. Trying to whack the good balls repeatedly generally leads to disaster when the fielding side keep their heads. A two-day Test match? One doubts the Authorities will mind overmuch. It was an adrenaline-filled spectacle seen by a combined hundred thousand spectators. And most would have gone home happy and exalted. The Barmy Army not so much. And so on to Brisbane.

Only 72 overs were bowled yesterday in 390 minutes. And yet the spectators could be said to have got their money’s worth, with 19 wickets and almost 300 runs. It was amphetamine-laced fare to be sure. And yet the obloquy heaped on the batsmen was largely undeserved. The bowling was mostly magnificent, and batting was an excruciating business. None could survive for long, and neither did they. A deal of nonsense had been uttered beforehand. England will bowl Bodyline? There was hardly a bouncer bowled all day. As the Windies in their pomp had shown, you don’t need more than chin music as a fleeting reminder. The ball that flies off a length is far more perilous.

Another delusional comment from The Sages was that having won the toss Stokes would choose to bowl  with his five-man pace attack. The pride of county Durham knew better. We do not know how this pitch will play. If it turns out docile, then we will bat first and make 400 plus. If it is sprightly – as it transpired, it really was – then we will have a thrash, get a few, and put them in early. England batted and lost Crawley in Starc’s first over. It was an over for the ages. Starc at 35 is in the form of his life. Nobody likes facing left-arm pace. And everyone knows about his roaring inswinging yorkers. Yet the ball did not swing much for anyone. There was just enough seam movement to take the ball from the middle to the edge. His 7/58 was a magnificent piece of bowling, even though there had been contributory negligence from his adversaries.

For the rest of the attack, little remains to be said. Boland’s day began and ended in a hideous nightmare. This most metronomic of bowlers lost his line and length, and was hammered all over the park in runs the home side could ill afford. Brendan Doggett by contrast was lively and menacing, and was rewarded with a pair of wickets. Green’s single over went for ten runs, but he picked up Ollie Pope. Lyon bowled just two overs. When England were bowled out in 33 overs, the howls of derision could be heard as far afield as Fremantle. Yet there was method in their madness. England batted as though it was white ball cricket. Brook’s 52 was the day’s top score. Pope’s 46 and Smith’s 33 were useful contributions. None looked as though they were there for the long haul. Given that Australia caught practically everything, they were not.

As it happened, England’s 172 looks like a good score now. Jake Weatherald collapsed over himself and was trapped leg before by Archer on his second ball. Weatherald is the form opener in the Sheffield Shield, but this was verily a baptism by fire on the big stage. Archer, Wood and Carse are fast bowlers. Atkinson and Stokes are medium-fast. All bowled superbly, and there was to be no respite anywhere, or at any time. To add to Australia’s discombobulation, Khawaja was caught napping off the field and was unable to open, so Labuschagne was forced to go in first in his place. He and Smith decided to ride out the storm. Between them they faced 15 overs for 26 runs. Both succumbed anyway. With Australia reeling at 4/31 Head and Green decided that the English approach had been correct after all.

Their stand of 45 off 71 was restrained enough, but it reflected the underlying truth that sooner or later there will be a delivery with your name on it, so make hay while you can. Carey made a run-a-ball 26 in his customary fashion. But the destroyer of the evening session was the visiting captain himself. Stokes has bowled just six overs. He has 5/23. Poor batting, brilliant bowling. Nobody seems to be able to explain adequately Stokes’ genius for picking up wickets. He has 230 of them in Tests, so it cannot be a fluke. What he does is go hell-for-leather at the stumps. If he gets hit for four it doesn’t worry him. It is the all-rounder’s privilege. He varies everything: his pace, angle of delivery, seam movement, even swing if there is any. Australia’s tail had no answers.

Australia resumes today on a piteous 9/123. And nobody knows what will happen. If the pitch remains capricious, it could be all over by stumps. If it flattens out, then batting will get easier, and a fourth-innings mammoth chase is a viable prospect. Or possibly the old WACA menace of opening crevasses might manifest, though that has not been seen for many a year. But honours on Day One are firmly with England. They came with a plan and executed it to the letter. A sobering thought for Australia is that yes, Archer and/or Wood might indeed break down and strain a fetlock. Waiting in the wings is Josh Tongue: England’s leading wicket-taker in the recent series against India. It will be a summer of scorching pace. More later….

The final of the World Cup was won by India in what looked to be an easy victory, but really wasn’t. Batting first on a docile wicket, the home side fell just shy of 300. Would this be enough? India had chased down Australia’s 338 in the semi-final, after all. Their innings was a team effort, led by Shafali Verma, who was only playing because of the injury to Pratika Rawal. Overjoyed to be given a second chance at 50-over cricket, she managed 87 from 78, with two sixes and seven fours. Her partnership with Mandhana at the top was worth 104 at a run a ball. Yet South Africa had not come all this way just to throw in the towel. The fielders flung themselves around the sward, and the bowlers did not give an inch. Wickets fell at intervals, and it was only when Deepti Sharma and Richa Gosh came together that the innings regained impetus. Deepti came in at no.5 and managed a run-a-ball 58, while Richa muscled the ball around the park for a belligerent 34.

Special mention should go to Ayabonga Khaka, whose first three overs had cost 29. She had been trying too hard to swing the ball where none was available. Her later spells of six overs produced 3/29. She adjusted her length and tried to bowl stump to stump. Nonkululeko Mlaba also put the brakes on with ten tight overs for the wicket of the Indian captain. In reply South Africa left nothing to chance. Could their gallant captain back up after her devastating assault in the semi-final? Indeed she could. Wolvaardt completed another century, and at 6/220 from 41 the visitors were still well in it. Alas, she lost her wicket to Sharma’s deceitful off-breaks, and the innings folded thereafter.

South Africa did everything possible to win this match, and can hold their heads high in the bitterness of defeat. Amanjot and Radha’s overs were put to the sword, and Harmanpreet was forced to dig deeper than she might have expected. The seventh bowler called upon was Shafali herself. After her exhilarating innings she was probably still walking on air; and her seven overs contrived 2/36. She was named Player of the Match, and with some justice.

But the real architect of victory was Deepti Sharma, later named Player of the Series, and rightly so. A hard-hitting fifty, and five wickets? She could hardly have done more. Overall, she added 215 belligerent runs to her 22 wickets, and more than once turned the tide in favour of victory. Her bowling is not characterised by either severe turn, or teasing flight. Where she excels in outfoxing the batsman at the other end. Better than any other player in women’s cricket, she understands that placing the ball where the batsman least wants or expects it is the key. The other crucial factor was India’s depth. This has always been the secret of Australia’s dominance of the summer game. And what a replacement Shafali Verma turned out to be!

India’s steel was also hardened by their ongoing near-death experiences. They lost three matches in a row and almost didn’t qualify. Yet when it really mattered, they turned up the heat and triumphed. For those unconvinced of the value of sport, we offer the following observation. India has never been exactly famous for its feminist credentials, although the same might also be said of many other nations. But the grandstands were filled – especially during the two finals – with Indian families. Men, women and children all watching, exalted, as the women in blue stormed to victory. One imagines that India’s women will walk taller hereafter.