First came the New Zealand whirlwind, then rain in Southampton, and now the international cricket summer sees visiting Sri Lanka take on England in a three-match T20I series beginning on Wednesday evening. With England picking their strongest squad available, and the tourists a shadow of their once revered white-ball side, a storm might well be brewing.

Furthermore, if England fans had been wondering where the priorities of Ashley Giles and Chris Silverwood currently lie, in an Ashes year that also features a T20 World Cup, the last few weeks might have given the clearest indication yet that white-ball cricket ball remains the apple of the ECB’s eye. As such, it’s hard not to have sympathy for Test captain Joe Root who was asked to go over the top against an outfit as strong as New Zealand while a number of his chief lieutenants were resting ahead of this upcoming T20 series.

Root really does find himself in no man’s land at present and as pragmatic and diplomatic as he has become, one wonders just how far his patience will stretch before he concludes this is a battle he cannot win and that concentrating on his own game and batting, free from the strains of the impossible job of captaining England’s Test team, will best serve his own interests.