A Boxing Day Test is the kind of showpiece occasion on which anyone would love to shine. For a long time yesterday, though, most of the chosen few failed to rise to it until, slowly, two players emerged from the general level of mediocrity to elevate the contest and remind a good holiday crowd on a hot, humid and energy-sapping day why they had come and paid good money to witness the elite of the game. For England, Sam Curran was that man. He found enough swing with the Kookaburra ball and enough bounce from the Centurion pitch for edges to carry — both elements denied to him in New Zealand — to take four wickets for his best figures in Test cricket and he was by…

Source: The Times December 26, 2019 18:22 UTC