And over the first two undulating days of battle between Pakistan and Australia,spectators and viewers were privy to another development that,in its way,will help reinforce the future of the long game for at least the next generation.
In Naseem Shah,19,and Cameron Green,22,the hosts and their visitors each possess a young cricketer capable of drawing new followers to the game over the next decade or more. A Test match renaissance during the 1990s was driven at least in part by the arrival of Shane Warne as a one-man advertisement for the attacking virtues of leg spin.
While neither Nassem nor Green can offer up wrist spin’s mysteries,their chosen skills are of similarly attractive kinds. As an allrounder already capable of commanding a place in the Australian side with either the bat or the ball,Green could well be the most versatile talent to emerge since the days of Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff.