Four and a half days of to-ing and fro-ing, and tense, delicately poised cricket, and then an hour of buckling on the fifth day after lunch. Excruciating listening.  ‘Just what keeps you coming back tomorrow’ as Blowers said. Hmmm. What a shame for England.

Interesting that Geoff Boycott thinks it would be a sign of strength for Alistair Cook to resign rather than a sign of weakness, and thinks Cook is looking at it from the opposite (wrong) angle. Downton and the selectors will be having some long talks before Southampton. Vaughan obviously wants Cook to move on too. Looking forward to my trip down to the Rose Bowl next week. But Gordon Bennett, what a mess.

A friend, who has shared the odd glass of Champagne with the great raconteur himself sent me this wonderful passage this morning, on this, the fifth day of the Lords Test. 

The series against Sri Lanka was so tight. I was glued to TMS as we tried to save the second test – which we so nearly did. Don’t blame Anderson for crying one bit. He batted far longer to save it than he and Monty had to in Cardiff a few years ago to save an Ashes test. Should Moeen Ali have sheltered him from the final six balls? Maybe. But Ali got us a long way to that position in the first place. The test reminds me of a book I read at school called ‘Playing it Right’. Still love that book, and when I was a teacher, I wanted pupils to take to it, but maybe it was just a generational thing.

Went to the MCC v ROW match last Saturday. So frustrating for everyone concerned that Brett Lee accidentally bowled a full bunger and Warne’s hand was broken, meaning we didn’t get to see him bowl. It would probably have been a bit closer if he had had the chance. Still, it was a fun spirited day to celebrate the bicentenary. Long live Lords.

I was driving to an appointment this morning when I looked across and saw Kevin Pietersen perched up high in his black jeep. His missus was next to him, probably giving him a hard time for beeping at the cars in front for not reacting to the Green Light quickly enough. Maybe he was in a foul mood because he is not up at Trent Bridge.

With the Indian’s score at 259-4 at the end of the first day’s play, it could go either way tomorrow, although I fear the track is so flat there is only one way it will go.