When Chris Silverwood, England’s cricket coach, announced his squad for the two Test series against New Zealand, which begins on June 2, he couldn’t help looking ahead to the Ashes in Australia in December and January. There are five home Tests against India before then and the minor diversion of the World T20 championship too. But everything is geared to the Ashes, and a rum series that will be, given that England will play no warm-up matches before the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, no first-class cricket indeed, since the fifth Test against India in September.