Old Trafford is a place of regeneration. While the cricket ground sprouts hotels and buildings that look like giant scart lead ports, just down the road, within eyesight, are the familiar white girders of the football ground. Now in need of a fix to a leaky roof, the Theatre of Dreams was once synonymous with evolution.
One of the many great skills of Sir Alex Ferguson was the ability to know when and how to build a new squad, even if he already had a champion outfit. How fitting then, that this corner of Manchester is where the development in the England cricket team came into sharp focus. In contrast to Ferguson, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum did not have the luxury of refreshing a winning unit, rather one that had a single success in its previous 17 matches.
In two-and-a-bit years, the leadership duo have reversed results and revamped the squad. One probably begat the other. Granted, some changes have been necessary because of a couple of injuries, including to captain Stokes himself.
Still, for the battling win in the first Test against Sri Lanka, England were without four men in possession of at least 100 Test caps who have featured in the past year or so: Stokes (hamstring), Jonny Bairstow (dropped), Stuart Broad (optional retirement) and James Anderson (forced retirement). It was the first time in 16 years that England had taken the field without at least one of the quartet. Throw in the pretty ruthless axings of both Ollie Robinson and Jack Leach, and England are al.