Maybe Zak Crawley wouldn’t have got out for 77,and instead blazed away for a match-winning double-century. Maybe Joe Root would have scored his first hundred in Australia. Perhaps Ben Stokes would have pulled off another miracle. Maybe Australia would have rolled them by lunch.
Yes,Cummins will now wish he had more time,more daylight without being forced to bowl Steve Smith in the last over. But every decision changes every consequence,and,in another mouldy old proverb,if your aunt had a different anatomy then she would be your uncle. And if Australia want to blame anything for not winning the match,it ought to be themselves for all the catches they dropped.
Instead of focusing on speculative fiction,what this match leaves is a memory of hard facts. On the best SCG pitch in years,Australia and England provided a contest that helped keep the Ashes alive even when they are dead.