From Mark Browning, Australia

	Did the sun really shine non-stop for those few weeks in England? I’m sure it hasn’t since © The Cricketer International

Top ten best ever cricket book lists are common enough. It is no doubt a worthy concept and the book will forever have a place in the cricket lover’s heart. Now, though, another form of cricketing media entertainment exists in sufficient numbers and variety for a top ten best ever list to be considered.

Dozens of cricket videos and DVDs have been released since the mid 1980s. They should be of fairly equal merit in terms of value and production. Interest, therefore, should be based on the merits of the game or player on view. That, though, is not the case. Getting the right amount of action into the package is essential. Generally the viewer’s opinion is “more is more” and “less is less.” The VHS Taylor’s Heroes is a case in point. It was an historic and fluctuating four-match Test series, culminating in Australia’s decisive Test win in Jamaica. But the souvenir video put out by Premier Sports contained the four Tests and all the one-dayers of that tour in one 90-minute package. It also included lots of camera chats with Mike Coward and David Hookes. All sense of match-flow was lost.

The other extreme is probably the series of releases showing the 1992 World Cup. There are too many different tapes and a few one-sided and meaningless games that could have been left out. The three DVD set Ashes Glory on the other hand is a delight. Sunset and Vine got things right with their Ashes 2005 set. They could hardly go wrong with one of the greatest Ashes series of all time. But as a contest 2006-07 was a fizzer. Nevertheless, the DVD set is a beauty as the early arm wrestles evolving into Australian 5-0 dominance for one last time are wonderfully allowed to express themselves.

VHS video tapes are now, of course, an outmoded format. That is frustrating for any cricket aficionado. Over a period of time virtually all significant music albums originally released on vinyl have made it to CD. So too have many worthy movies from VHS to DVD. It is not the case with cricket tapes. And some bottlers have not made it to the updated format. Some of the first releases were the best. John Arlott’s Vintage Cricket, Richie Benaud’s Years of Cricket and The Ashes 72 contain absolutely fantastic material. None are on legal DVD release, as the BBC continues to sulk about losing the cricket television rights. The ABC has re-issued a selection of VHS tapes on DVD from its extensive catalogue. Some like Benaud To Border, Calypso Cricket and The Cricket Archives are welcome returns.

There has been some serious repetition of footage on other releases over the years, though. One of the earliest releases in Australia was a comprehensive coverage of the 1984-85 Test series against the West Indies, Test of the Best. It is rare, but rich in nostalgia in its depiction of one of the greatest cricket teams of all time. Copies, when they sneak on to eBay, go for hundreds of dollars. Today’s technical advances make the vision a little dated. But the quality of the cricket and amount recorded detail make an incredibly worthwhile acquisition.

So here’s my ten of the best. Some old, some new, mostly Tests and no Twenty20

1. India v Australia 2001

Among the first releases to make it to the DVD format, it was a stunning contest and the DVD evoked the unique atmosphere of cricket in the country. The coverage is excellent with the only quibble being a few too many short cuts in the first Test.

2. Ashes 2005

They sold a lot of these. Even in Australia. I’m an Aussie and I can watch it hour after hour, except the last ball at Edgbaston.

3. Viv Richards-BBC Cricket Legends

This whole series was worthy, Botham and Alan Knott being the best of the rest of the eight releases. Biographical tapes need to depict the essential charisma of the player at play in sufficient amounts, not just action samples and lengthy interviews. This Viv Richards VHS does that nicely.

4. Clive Lloyd's Finest Hour

It’s only on VHS I’m afraid. The first World Cup in 1975 was still the best in the minds of many and the final remains a cracker. This has the best coverage of that fantastic West Indian triumph. Did the sun really shine non-stop for those few weeks in England? I’m sure it hasn’t since.

5. England’s Summer of Cricket 2006

The follow-up DVD to the Ashes 2005 was like Double White after Sgt Pepper. There was a lot less hoopla, but the end product was just as worthy. The Beatles analogy could go even further. Was the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan, cricket’s version of Revolution No.9?

6. The Bradman Era

The ABC brought this out as early as 1983. While some of the footage was rare and fantastic then, a lot of it has re-appeared in the numerous Bradman releases since. What I like about this is that it broke new ground and the interviews with Bill O’Reily are better than any actually done with Bradman. The image of the young O’Reilly ‘killing snakes’ as they walked along a railway track to play cricket in the 1920s in New South Wales is matchless in setting time and place.

7. John Arlott’s Vintage Cricket

One of the real bonuses with this is that it features a fair bit of Arlott himself. Eventually a lot of the footage turned up elsewhere. But it was new at the time and Barry Richards’ 100 for Hampshire is worth the price of admission alone. Just on VHS.

8. Kiwi Master Blaster

There is some wonderful hitting by Nathan Astle during his record-breaking Test double-century on this DVD and the sight of Test cricket being played at night with the ball disappearing into the black sky is extraordinary.

9. The Ashes 72

I’ve watched this time and time again and it never fails to please. It was such an exciting series and not far behind 2005 in quality. It is still the only 2-2 result in an Ashes series. There are varying conditions, the Massie match, the fuserium controversy, Lillee, Snow, Greig, Marsh, the Chappells all in glorious watery 1972 BBC colour. It should have a DVD release.

10. Botham’s Ashes

I suppose I had to put this one in. Was it the first ever cricket video?

Honourable mentions; Test of Time, VHS Boxing Day Test of 1981-82, VHS Australia v West Indies Test series 1992-93.

From Jacob Astill, Australia

	Kemar Roach's bowling style is reminiscent of the great Malcolm Marshall © Getty Images

It's been a big year in Test cricket. Australia was finally dethroned from the top of the cricket tree, somehow managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a see-sawing Ashes series; Bangladesh won it's first ever Test series against a West Indian side barracking for more money for less work; and Pakistan made a long-awaited return to the Test arena. So with this action-filled year in mind, I thought I'd cast a closer eye over the players to have made their Test debuts this year and name for you the five who I think have shown the most promise, and have the ability and mettle to have a big impact on the game at its highest level.

Phillip Hughes, Australia

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm a massive fan of Phillip Hughes. The kid's a talent, and it's no fluke that he averages over 60 in first-class cricket in the best domestic competition in the world. It's also no secret why he is billed as the shining young light in Australian cricket. Unfortunately, he was dropped during the Ashes, mainly due to Mitchell Johnson's inability to land the red thing on the big beige strip in the middle of the ground.

This was after having a superb debut tour of South Africa, where he slapped a ton in each innings in Durban against a fast bowling attack of Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Jacques Kallis, probably the best in the world cricket since Australia's own Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, and Jason Gillespie of the early Noughties. That was only in his second Test, and he finished the series with over 400 runs at about 80.

Since being dropped, Hughes has attempted to epitomise the old adage that a player can't improve until he's left out, working on the supposed technical issues quoted by everyone's favourite selection committee as the reason for his demotion, and showing his mental toughness in largely ignoring the media reports about him that have been both positive and negative. Hughes' game revolves around effortless and consistent off-side play, with extravagant shots featuring in his early season form for his state side NSW. A few more big scores at state level will intensify the pressure on selectors to recall him to the Test side, and we could see the 21-year-old left hander back at the top of the Australian order very soon.

Kemar Roach, West Indies

For a large part of 2009, the West Indies side consisted of a combination of over-the-hill first-class players and extremely green youngsters who probably weren't good enough because of a pay dispute between the star players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). But there was one shining light, who unsurprisingly kept his place in the Test side when the top players returned on West Indies' tour of Australia. I'm talking, of course, about Kemar Roach.

The young paceman debuted against the touring Bangladeshis in July, and despite the West Indies losing, Roach took three wickets in both innings, displaying the pace, hostility, and control that was synonymous with the great West Indies pace attack of the 70's, 80's and 90's. Roach then went on to take a career-best 6 for 48 in the second Test, finishing the series with 13 wickets at 17, the best from either side.

Roach then came to Australia, and during the series managed to trouble, for one, Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Dismissing him on the first day of the first Test, Roach also sent him to hospital with a vicious bouncer in the third Test that struck him on the arm, before dismissing him with another in the second innings. It's not often you see Ponting bounced out, and a scalp of such pedigree only served to enhance Roach's reputation.

As I already said, Roach holds a strong resemblance to the legendary West Indies fast bowlers; his action almost mirrors the great Malcolm Marshall in particular, and with the gift of raw pace and an ability to control the ball well, Roach could go a long way to dragging West Indies cricket out of the doldrums.

Umar Akmal, Pakistan

The little brother of Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, Umar announced his arrival on cricket's highest stage with a bang. Making his first-class debut aged only 17 in 2007, Umar slapped 855 runs in only nine matches and has adapted to international cricket just as easily. Fast forward two years to 2009, and the 19-year-old's sheer weight of runs made him an automatic selection for Pakistan's tour of New Zealand.

Nor did Umar disappoint; coming to the wicket in his first Test match at 74 for 3 after the departure of star batsman Mohammad Yousuf. Umar then departed at 7-293, scoring 129 runs off 160 balls, with 21 boundaries and two sixes in a tick over 3-and-a-half hours, combining with brother Kamran to put on 176 for the sixth wicket. The debutant then backed his first innings century up with a fifty in the second dig, and scored another two half-centuries and a 46 to finish his debut Test series with 379 runs at just over 63.

Many believe Umar to be Pakistan's most complete batsman since the young trio of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan came onto the Test scene; Umar's attacking prowess extends to being able to play off both feet and all around the wicket, and if his scintillating attacking play can continue then his career will not only be excellent but highly entertaining.

Mohammad Aamer, Pakistan

Aamer has the potential to be the next Wasim Akram. Since being earmarked by the great fast bowler at the age of 15, the now 17-year-old left-armer has gone from strength to strength and is deserving of a place in the top-line Pakistan side. Debuting against Sri Lanka in July, Aamer took six wickets, including the prize scalps of Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Kumar Sangakkara (twice!). He showed extreme promise with his ability to swing the ball prodigiously, and maintain a consistent pace of around the 140kmph mark.

These same features of his play were evident during Pakistan's tour of New Zealand, where Aamer took seven wickets in three Tests. Although not an instant success like the other Test newcomers mentioned here (he averages nearly 40 with the ball), Aamer averages just over 19 in first-class cricket, and not much more than that in a handful of one-day internationals. At only 17 years of age, he has more time on his side than most others going around Test cricket at the moment. Watch out for him during Pakistan's summer against Australia.

JP Duminy, South Africa

Look, I know I'm stretching it with Duminy, as he technically didn't make his Test debut in 2009, but because he did so in December 2008, I think he can count. Plus, it's my choice.

Duminy is a talented left-handed batsman who came into the South African Test side on the tour of Australia in late 2008 as a replacement for the injured Ashwell Prince, but the 25-year-old performed so admirably that the fit-again Prince had to find a place in the side as a makeshift opener when Australia went to South Africa in early 2009.

In his first Test, he scored an unbeaten half-century and was instrumental in South Africa chasing down a fourth-innings total of in excess of 400. Duminy then enhanced his reputation by scoring a brilliant 166 at the MCG during the Boxing Day Test. Not only is Duminy's batting extremely impressive, but his fielding is exceptional and his part-time off-spinners are serially underrated. With some more consistent performances, and the impending retirement of stalwart Kallis, Duminy will be looking transform from an elegant tyro into an integral part of the talented South African batting line-up.

Honourable Mention: Wayne Parnell, South Africa

I've placed Parnell into this list as the "honourable mention" due to his not having played Test cricket yet. The 20-year old left arm swing bowler has, however, shown extreme promise at the limited-overs level. Since making his international debut against Australia in a Twenty20 last summer, Parnell has taken 11 wickets at 17 in eight Twenty20 internationals, 22 wickets in nine ODI's, including 2 five-wicket hauls, and has impressed with his ability to swing the ball at pace, while maintaining control as well. With the great Ntini coming towards the end of his career, Parnell is probably next in line for his spot in the South African line-up, or may even come in before Ntini goes.

From Debayan Sen, India

	A moment of celebration, but the work's just begun © Associated Press

So it’s happened at long last. After more than 77 years of bashing it about with the Big Boys, at a time when India have won a whopping 101 Test matches in all, making the yearly win ratio a princely 1.31, they’re officially recognised as the No.1 team in the world. News channels, particularly some of the infamously hyperbole-centric Hindi ones, proclaimed the day as the biggest ever in the history of Indian cricket. And somewhere I personally longed for the good old days (even by the standards of a 27-year-old, the heydays of Test cricket do appear eons ago).

Days when Test cricket was what it was meant to be. That thrill of waking up on the Rest Day, with a Test match evenly poised and all results possible, made it a cracking talking point with classmates at school. Days when the four-yearly World Cup was just that - a four-yearly carnival that came and went and was dutifully followed for the time when it was on (note that World Cups back then didn’t seem to start one March and appear to finish the following December!). Days when Indians routinely lost matches abroad, but there was always a silver lining in every defeat; watching them on grainy old television sets or hearing the commentary on radio while sipping hot coffee at 4:30 in the morning just made the extra effort of doing so worth its while. Days when India were Tigers At Home. Make no mistake about it. Raju would bowl like Warne, and Kumble was like Laker at Old Trafford. And the odd occasion when these gentlemen had an off-day, Srinath was lurking around to feast on hapless foreign teams on an uneven fifth-day track.

Actually, these are better times for an Indian cricket fan. They’ve seen the financial muscle develop over the last 16 years (I always cite the 1993 home series against England as a starting point) but now they appear to have the cricketing nous to go with it. Sachin Tendulkar was a champion back then, and he is one even today. The difference is in the quality of those around him. Back then the only other mercurial genius they queued up to watch was Hyderabad’s Mohammed Azharuddin. Sanjay Manjrekar and, for a brief while, Vinod Kambli, proved to be middle-order mainstays. And there was a reinvented maverick at the top of the order from the North: Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was perhaps the first cricketer in the world to welcome Shane Warne to the bowling crease in a Test by dancing down the track and smacking him back over his head for six. There still is a Deccan classicist (VVS Laxman), the mainstays are more solid than they were back then (Rahul Dravid has won more matches with his broad blade than both Manjrekar and Kambli combined) and in Virender Sehwag, we have an opener who can instil fear in the minds of the best bowlers in the world, spin or pace!

And then there is MS Dhoni. The bowling could be better, and indeed that is the one department that needs to pull its weight if we have to have any chance of competing with top teams like Australia and South Africa on a regular basis. Specifically the spinners came a cropper in this series, and barring a few debatable decisions that went his way, Harbhajan Singh would probably have been a massive weak link in the bowling attack at crucial times. All said and done, this is just the beginning. Its perhaps unfamiliar territory for most of us Indian cricket fans (say when was the last time we had a captain whose Test record read 10 played, seven won, three drawn?) but we’re not complaining.

The key thing is how we’ll be able to sustain this level of performance, and whether the powers-that-be are at all keen on seeing the oldest and most exciting form of the game survive!

From S.Giridhar and V.J. Raghunath

	Kapil Dev was never run out in his Test career © Associated Press

This is one of the more difficult essays we have attempted. So much has been said and written about Kapil Dev that the reader might well skip this piece, saying, ‘oh we have heard and read it all before’. But we are going to discuss a couple of facets of Kapil Dev’s wondrous abilities that have not received adequate attention. So bear with us, while we unfold the story and we hope it is worth your time.

Whenever Kapil is mentioned, Indians usually recall two images. One is that of Kapil sprinting back many yards, that summer evening at Lords, to take the most important catch in India’s cricket history. The other is that of Kapil, 1000 watt smile, holding aloft the World Cup and his endearingly inept attempt to open and spray the champagne. If you prod some more, other images will follow, of this great spell of bowling or that fantastic innings or those four sixes in an over from Eddie Hemmings and so on. This story hopes to jog other memories of Kapil in readers’ minds.

The two facets of Kapil’s genius (the only time we will use the word in this essay) we will discuss here pertain to batting. The first of these is the ability to rotate the strike. Kapil, in this aspect of batting, was not simply marvelous but on a pedestal of his own. Kapil, to many readers, will conjure up images of big hits for six or booming drives for fours. This is not illusory because Kapil had an awesome strike rate of 95.1 in ODIs, which meant he certainly biffed them a long way. But hidden or lost behind such imagery is the Kapil who hardly took a minute to settle down and before you knew it had already pushed along with a single here and a couple there, with not a sniff of violence. Why was Kapil so uncannily good at this? Quite simply because he had an innate sense of timing and a god-given gift for placement. Rarely would he push the ball straight to the fielder. It was always a few yards to the left, right or short of the fielder. He was able to do this because he was technically sound and never was this more evident than when he drove the ball. This ability of his to rotate strike was there for all of us to see in both Test cricket and ODIs. Was he really that good? Do the figures support our fulsome praise? You bet they do!

In ODIs Kapil faced 3979 balls to score 3783 runs for that strike rate of 95.1. Of these hit 291 balls for fours and 67 for sixes. If you remove these 358 deliveries he dispatched for fours and sixes, you will find he scored the remaining 2217 runs of 3621 balls. In other words, he ticked along at a strike rate of 61.2 even of those balls which had not gone for a four or a six. Such rotating strike rate ensured there were fewer dot balls; the score board kept moving and he turned over the strike regularly to his partner. In fact, he was peerless at this facet of the game and we say this after studying similar statistics for the other three allrounders of his time: Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee; the best one-day batsmen and finishers of his time: Dean Jones, Javed Miandad and Viv Richards; and the best finishers of modern times: Michael Bevan, MichaelHussey, and MS Dhoni. Just for a lark, we also compared Kapil’s rotating strike rate with Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag, and it betters both. The nearest to Kapil in this respect are Hussey, Bevan and Dhoni who are accustomed to batting at the death and finish well. Interested readers could perhaps extend this by comparing the rotating strike rates of great batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and others and in case anyone exceeds 61.2, we will be very interested!

The other facet of Kapil’s batting acumen that has somehow escaped attention has been his running between wickets, a feature of the game best appreciated sitting at the ground than watching on TV. The two of us have had the pleasure of watching Kapil Dev’s Test hundreds in Chennai against Australia and West Indies. Kapil always had so much time even for the sharpest single that we cannot recall him having to do anything desperate. Alive and alert to the single, he would simply lope across with a big grin on his face. What was particularly laudable was he did that in a team where only Azhar had acquired the reputation of being a sprinter between the ends. Kapil would make the laid back Dilip Vengsarkar and Sandeep Patil run with him, both for his shots as well as theirs. Kapil would twirl his bat at the end of the run; Vengarsarkar would lean on his bat to catch his breath. And yet Kapil’s judgement of a run was so good that one cannot recall a run out. Judging a run was something innate; something completely natural to him. How good was he? In a word, sensational. In 184 Test innings Kapil was not run out even once. It is a track record that obviously cannot be bettered! We would like to go out on a limb and state he would have been involved in very few run outs of his partners too. In ODIs, Kapil was run out ten times in 221 innings. On this parameter he is behind Gilchrist, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Richards but ahead of the other batsmen we have compared him with.

Kapil was ahead of his time. He added so much more value to his superb hitting through his running between wickets and rotating the strike. His strike rate of 95.1 of course stands the test of time – with only the likes of Shahid Afridi, Sehwag and Gilchrist ahead of him. His rotating strike rate is superior to all even today. At a time when Indians are lamenting the weak running and the lack of frequency in rotating the strike, the importance of Kapil’s phenomenal ability in these two facets of batting cannot be forgotten.

We end with this precious nugget: Kapil Dev never missed a Test because of injury or fitness reasons in a career that spanned 131 tests spread over 16 years. It is another facet of his career – this amazing fitness for a fast bowler – where he towers over his contemporaries as well as present-day pace bowlers. We leave you with some ODI figures to mull over.

From Manohar V. Rakhe, United Kingdom

	Tony Greig cradles Gundappa Viswanath in the 1973 Test © Cricinfo Ltd

On Wednesday morning I saw on TV, MS Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara walk out for the toss at the Brabourne Stadium at the third Test and my mind was transported back to 1956!

It was in 1956 that I was first introduced to Test cricket. I was barely 12 years old and had no clue whatsoever as to what Test cricket really was about. Although, like all Mumbaikar children, I too played cricket, mostly with a tennis ball or even a ball made out of rags, I had never seen a Ranji Trophy match, let alone a Test.

In 1956, the Australians had come to India, under the captaincy of Ian Johnson, on their way back home from England. My cousin had got three tickets for the match - for himself, his wife and his younger brother. As the younger brother was taken ill, I got the chance to go for the Test.

When we got to the ground, I was completely dumbfounded. I had never imagined so many people could congregate in the same place and at the same time. The noise was unbelievable. Our seats were in the East Stand, in those days, comparable to SCG’s The Hill! We had to barge our way through the crowds to find three empty seats (no reserved seats in the East Stand then). By the time we sat down, the match had already started.

We were so far away from the middle that it was difficult to make out who was fielding and who was batting. My knowledge of cricket was marginally better than that of my cousin, in the sense that I knew that in cricket they score runs and not points! Every player was in resplendent white clothing, though I had no idea who was who. I remember seeing these two tall fellows, running towards the stumps, waving their arms and finally bowling the ball, which I swear, I never saw, until it was being passed from hand to hand, back to the bowler. I learned later that those two tall fellows were Ray Lindwall and Pat Crawford.

As my cousin’s younger brother recovered from his illness, the next day, the first day of that Test match was all I could see. But that was enough to convert me into a total cricket addict. After that I had a chance to Tests against West Indies, Pakistan and finally an inter-collegiate final between Ruia (my college) & Siddhartha College. The rivalry between these two Mumbai colleges was no less fervent than that between England & Australia.

After the establishment of the Wankhede Stadium, the Brabourne sort of faded in the background, but not in my mind. Even today, some memories of those matches are as fresh in my mind as if they happened yesterday. Some memories do stand out among a host of others. The fearsome West Indian duo of Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist running in to bowl and then ending up within hand-shaking distance of the batsman.

In one of the matches, Garry Sobers was batting, hitting the ball to all corners of the ground. Polly Umrigar, the Indian captain went up to Ghulam Guard, the bowler and had a word with him. A couple of balls later Guard sent down a bouncer at Sobers. Before anybody realized what was happening, the ball was sailing into the middle of the crowd in the East Stand. That was the first time I saw a hook played off the front foot!

Then there was the sensational announcement in the press that an Indian actress, Anju Mahendru, relatively unknown at that time, had got engaged to Sobers. As a publicity stunt, I don’t think, it has been bettered, yet!

Then, in a Test against Pakistan, at the fall of the first wicket, as the No. 3 batsman was walking up to the wicket, a gentleman in front of me, stood up and started clapping enthusiastically, welcoming Hanif Mohamed to the crease. Only Hanif was not even playing in the match!

Oh, memories, memories! To add to all those, Thursday I collected another treasure. That was the sight of Virender Sehwag, marching towards his third triple century. The only difference this time was, though Sehwag was on the hallowed and my beloved turf of the Brabourne Stadium, I was thousands of miles away in London. May be, my body was in front of the TV, in the sitting room. But my spirit was most definitely behind the bowlers arm in the North Stand. An unforgettable experience, indeed!

From Steve Pye, United Kingdom

	It's hard to make up one's mind over what is the better option © Getty Images

Cast your mind back to September, 2005. England had just won that series, cricket was cool, and people who previously mocked the game were annoyingly approaching you in the street or at work and saying how much they now loved the game. All was rosy in the English cricket garden. But a cloud loomed over the game in England, one that split cricket fans opinions down the middle.

The Ashes series of 2005 was the last to be aired live on terrestrial television for the foreseeable future, as Sky were now the top dog when it came to test match cricket coverage in the UK. Before Sky we had the BBC and Channel 4. Growing up in the eighties, cricket to me was Peter West, Soul Limbo by Booker T and the MGs, and of course Richie Benaud. So you can imagine my astonishment, and the general shock among the cricket viewing public of the UK, when it was announced that from 1999, Test match cricket would move to Channel 4. Channel 4! The station of low viewing figures, of horse racing, a Liverpudlian soap opera, a letter/number quiz, but not our national summer sport, surely not.

But this was how it was to be, and there was nothing we could do about it. To be fair to Channel 4, their coverage was a breath of fresh air. Within a year I was a convert to Mark Nicholas, Mambo Number 5 by Lou Bega, and of course Richie Benaud. The BBC’s coverage now seemed so archaic, and it felt like I had my head turned from the safe older option I had grown up with, to a more attractive and younger looking alternative.

Although Channel 4’s dalliance with the game was short, they should be commended on their involvement in the game. And then came Sky. They had been covering England tours since 1990 and to cricket fans they were a godsend on those cold wintry nights. To top it all, they really knew how to present the game to the viewing public. Having said that, it was still a surprise when it was announced that from 2006, English Test matches would be shown exclusively live on this platform. It was a decision that enraged many. How could our summer sport be screened on a station that only a few million people had access to? Why should we pay for the privilege of watching English Test matches? How could the future generations of the game in England gain any heroes if they didn’t have access to Sky? All valid questions.

On the other hand you had the pro-Sky brigade. Those who hoped that the company’s investment in cricket would help the game’s grassroots, and who no longer wanted to have to put up with an Andre Agassi tennis match or horse racing interrupting an important Test. It was a divisive issue.

So where do I sit on this? Somewhat annoyingly on the fence. I appreciate that not everyone has access to Sky and that is not right. Whereas I grew up watching Botham, Lamb and Gower, who will the kids of today learn to idolise if they are not lucky enough to have a dish stuck on the side of their house? But on the other hand, I appreciate having the cricket shown on a dedicated sports channel. One that won’t miss Adil Rashid’s first Test wicket because they have to nip off to Hollyoaks. And if the vast amounts of money ploughed into the game by Sky can be wisely spent then surely that must be a good thing?

To be honest, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. Perhaps if I didn’t have Sky then my opinion would be much more definite, although even with access to satellite television I can see where the problems arise. It would be interesting to hear what others think about this. What I do know is that although Sky’s current Ashes coverage is first class, it is a shame that the 2009 series was not viewed by a much wider audience. Perhaps I secretly yearn for that feel-good summer factor of 2005, conveniently forgetting the fact that at key stages of that series, Channel 4 left the cricket to cover horse racing. Oh I really don’t know. If my thinking is so muddled, I wonder what the rest of the nation is like.