Welcome to the treadmill that is test cricket

Kyle Abbott is one of nature's perkiest cricketers. He has to be: he never knows when he is going to be dropped for no good reason or when he is going to be bundled on to a plane bound for the other side of the world before he has had a chance to brush his teeth that day. Both fates have befallen Abbott this year - the first before the World Cup semifinal in March, the second ahead of the Bangalore test last month.