PETER HAYTER

Just after a quarter to three on the first day of England’s third Test against South Africa at the Oval, the sight of Alastair Cook taking a moment to re-focus at the nonstriker’s end served to reveal a vision of his future.
Joe Root, who replaced him as skipper, had just edged a decent Vernon Philander delivery to where Quinton de Kock pulled off a brilliant one-handed catch.
He had already lost another seemingly doomed opening partner in Keaton Jennings (the 11th so far, since the retirement of Andrew Strauss four summers ago) for a nine-ball d...