Inspiration, consolation and premonition

The Australian public didn't switch off the same way as their team did in the CB finals © Getty Images

England a ratings winner too
Channel 9 couldn't get away from the second CB final quick enough. No sooner had Andrew Flintoff headed to the pavilion for the last time the hosts rushed off to the news, or more likely the latest quiz show. But maybe they got it wrong. According to the ratings the Aussie public wanted to see the cricket, it reached number two in the viewing charts behind the main news (which was sandwiched in the cricket), but the most interesting point is a couple of the shows lower down the list. At number five was "The biggest loser" and at number six "Where are they now". So that was another few million viewers who were also watching the cricket.

Words of wisdom
Over history teams have used a variety of quirky sources for inspiration. Of course there was John Buchanan and Sun Tzu in 2001 and David Lloyd was famous for his stirring references of 'once more unto the breach' and all that. Well, England's back-from-the-dead CB Series victory stemmed from a combination of Mother Teresa's words delivered by Alan Chambers, a polar explorer and long-term friend of Duncan Fletcher, who emailed the England coach. Fletcher explained how her famous words - "when you're successful you win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies" - were at the heart of England never losing heart. Not quite Johnny Cash, is it.

The man of the match goes too...
The Zimbabwe-Bangladesh one-dayers will has passed many by as most couldn't even watch it. Anyhow, for the record the series went to Bangladesh 3-1 but Lovemore Banda, the ZCU media man, did his best to give Zimbabwe a consolation prize by messing up the man-of-the-match presentation in the third game. It was meant to go to Shahriar Nafees - with Habibul Bashar winning 'moment of the match' for a sharp catch - but Lovemore got his wires crossed, and gave man of the match to Bashar and somehow the moment to Vusi Sibanda, who offered the catch. Well, I suppose he made it possible.

If Andrew Flintoff forgets anything he could always ask Callum Church © Getty Images

A real specialist
On the Cricinfo desk we like to think we know a fair bit about quite a few players (although we are only too happy to be put right by our readers), but this week an 11-year-old showed what it really means to know what you are talking about. Callum Church was a contestant on Junior Mastermind and his specialist subject was Andrew Flintoff. He raced through 19 out of 19 correct answers - a new record for the specialist subject round - ranging from, "In which other activity did Flintoff represent Lancashire schools - and years later surprised Mike Atherton by beating him in a game during a tour of the West Indies?" (it's chess) to "Who was Flintoff's fifth and final wicket in the last Test of the 2005 Ashes series?" (Warne). He led at the half-way stage but unfortunately was pipped to the main prize by one of his challengers. But he went to show that he certainly knows more about Freddie than probably even the man himself.

Back on the coach
Shane Warne has never been the biggest fan of John Buchanan, despite having a working relationship with him for nearly eight years. Lugging backpacks through the Australian bush probably wasn't Warnie's idea of fun, but they got the Ashes back so you'd have thought he might let it drop now. But no. On the back of Australia's falling one-day form, he has pinned the blame on the coach (the cricket kind, not the four-wheel kind) and the huge training program he has developed. "From what I hear, the boys trained really, really hard, probably too hard and it affected them," he said to The Age. "They got tired for the finals and didn't perform really well so John Buchanan has to take responsibility for that." Steve Waugh, though, was having none if it. "That's rubbish. The guys aren't silly. Ricky [Ponting] and the senior players have a major input into how the team functions and how much training to do, so I'm very sceptical of that." It's amazing what a couple (sorry, it's four on the bounce now) of defeats do.

Virender Sehwag needs some alone time during the World Cup © AFP

ECB bowls a jaffa
This one really was handed on a plate...of biscuits. A press release from the ECB announced a new commercial partnership with Jaffa Cakes, prompting a whole feast of fairly poor cricket-related puns...most of them from the Cricinfo office. If the sponsors get their way the summer will be filled with "Hoggard bowls another jaffa...cake" and "what a jaffa...cake that was to beat Flintoff." But the best line comes from John Perera, the ECB's commercial director, who said: "We are very excited about working closely with Jaffa Cakes in 2007." So that could be the end of Kit Kats at English Test grounds.

And finally...
Some of our readers believe we have a direct line to the players and this leads to some unusual requests coming our way. But there was one this week that stood out. "Is it possible for you to convey this message to Sehwag and only Sehwag?" Rajesh Shetty started out. "I am a great Sehwag fan and I had a dream yesterday night. Sehwag does open innings and he scores over 50 in each and every match in the world cup. Before every match, Sehwag is in a room alone...for 15 minutes without talking to anyone...He does not talk to his opening batting partner while leaving the dressing room, until he reaches the crease and faces the first ball." And Rajesh really does believe this is the key to turning Sehwag's form around. "Please convey the above to Sehwag; THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!! Please!" he implores. We always try to help so Virender, if by any chance you read this column, go and spend 15 minutes with yourself and everything will be fine.

"I was too drunk to realise what was going on, to be honest!"
Mal Loye admits he didn't see much of Dean Conway being robbed in the team hotel shortly before they left Australia