Right hand man as in Cook is first slip, Swann is second slip and they stand next to each other and talk cricket for 6 hours. I daresay Swann might be a bit of a sounding board for Cook.
This series has highlighted how the days of three seamers plus Swann are now over. The workload on Anderson, Broad and Swann in particular has been too much and in Stokes they might now have that Flintoff-type player that can balance the side. If so, it means more rest possible for the main...