The popular Hameed got stuck after reaching his half-century when he could have been making hay at Headingley
There was a rather tender moment after lunch on day one, as Joe Root gathered his England team into their traditional post-interval huddle. This can be a deceptively fraught moment for a captain, geometrically speaking. Allow the same faces to occupy their usual place in the huddle, and you risk letting cliques develop. Huddle too quickly or in the wrong place, and you can kiss goodbye to your dreams of a perfect circle. Watch Kane Williamson’s New Zealand team if you want to see it done properly.
The code-red scenario for a captain occurs when the huddle has formed, all the gaps have closed and there’s someone left on the outside, scampering frantically around the circle looking for a way in. For some reason – and read into this what you will – this always seemed to happen to Kevin Pietersen, who would end up clasping himself loosely around two unyielding teammates and almost certainly missing a good proportion of what was said. It wasn’t easy being him in that huddle.
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