BUMBLE NOT AT THE TEST

YES, NO, ER... MAYBE

WE all love a ‘yes, no’ interlude! Or is that: ‘Yes, no, wait, sorry’? On this occasion, Virat Kohli sold Cheteshwar Pujara a kipper. It seemed to be that classic line: ‘I’m in — I’m sorry about you.’ Geoffrey would have been proud of that. To make matters worse for Pujara, it began hosing it down seconds later.

SMITH MAKING HIS MARK

THE selection of Ollie Pope at No 4 is typical Ed Smith. He usually bats at No 6, but Smith (above) wants to give the young’uns a chance. Running out Pujara will have helped settle early nerves. I like the way Smith does business, and he was frank about Dawid Malan being better suited to overseas conditions. It’s refreshing stuff.

DRIVING ME BANANAS

I WAS at Headingley on Thursday night for the Roses Twenty20 match. It was a great occasion and most importantly Lancashire won. But as I left the car park 45 minutes after the end, I was told I couldn’t leave because there was ‘footfall’. That means people, apparently. I said, hang on, I’ve been driving for 53 years: I’m not in the habit of running into people. They go on that thin bit called the pavement, and I go on the black bit called the road.

BUILDING MY CAREER...

I’VE taken the chance of some time off to stoneclad a breezeblock wall at home. I’ve done the pointing as well. We’ve had thunder and lightning, but it’s very therapeutic. I’m very proud of it, and if you stand a good distance away it doesn’t look too bad at all. A bit like a Rembrandt, really.