A great Test match at Headingley on Tuesday, the first of five this summer against India, brought a famous victory for England’s cricketers. Required to make 371 – a target they had surpassed only once in history – they got there at 6.30 p.m. on the fifth afternoon for the loss of five wickets.

It was a thrilling occasion, to which the Indians contributed five centuries. No team, in any first-class match, had ever supplied five century-makers and lost. What a triumph for Ben Stokes, the captain, who asked India to bat on the first morning. No challenge, it seems, is beyond them.

Casting an eye on proceedings were Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, Sky’s lead commentators, who must now be considered the best television pundits in the land – not just on cricket, but all sport. Born five days apart in March 1968, the pair have been allies since their schooldays, when they were batsmen who bowled a bit of leg-spin. Atherton went to Manchester Grammar School and Cambridge, Hussain to Forest School and Durham. Later, playing for Lancashire and Essex, they graduated to the England team within six months of each........

© The Spectator