Mouthwash or tobacco? That’s the big question facing Cricket Australia, and they’ve decided to play it safe: the Australian board has pulled Hindi advertisements displayed at the grounds during the series against India, after being alerted that they could be promoting tobacco. Tobacco ads would reportedly fetch CA fines to the tune of Aus $66,000, since they breach the local tobacco advertising ban that was implemented in 1992.

"We asked [the Indian government's] advice because we are not familiar with the Hindi language," a CA spokesman said. "They came back and said it's an Indian mouthwash – or at least they said it's not a tobacco product. We don't have one million per cent certainty about all of the detail. It appears that there is a tobacco company with the same or similar brand name to the product that is being advertised. We have just become uneasy about it and said, let's withdraw this."

So you might see blank boards along the boundary starting with the India-Sri Lanka one-dayer in Perth on Wednesday. But CA is not in the clear just yet, with Australia’s health minister Tanya Plibersek saying the government has taken up the matter with the board.

"The Gillard government has received a number of complaints alleging that advertisements for tobacco products have been displayed at cricket grounds," Plibersek told News Limited newspapers. "The government is taking the allegations very seriously and has written to Cricket Australia seeking detailed information about the advertising."

In Abu Dhabi, the rules are slightly different © Getty Images

There will be no skin on show at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, where spectators have been told to observe a strict dress code during the second Test between Pakistan and England. The message was clearly spelt out – “Dress code is very simple. Just keep your clothes on.” That means the 500-strong Barmy Army, particularly those in the grass banks, will not be able to enjoy a tan at the driest Test ground in the world.

The rules had been more flexible in Dubai, the venue for the first Test. Nevertheless, the Barmy Army wasn’t complaining. "The fans from England will follow and respect the rules," said Barmy Army Colts tour operator Mark Stears. "They will not be taking their tops off like they do elsewhere in the world because of the dress code."

Andrew Strauss recently said England needed to start winning cricket matches in all conditions, all over the world. A group of British explorers have taken that rather literally, and have beaten a Rest of the World side at the South Pole, in temperatures as low as -35 degrees Celsius.

The match was organised as a tribute to Robert Falcon Scott, a navy officer who led Britain’s first expedition to the South Pole in 1910-13, which ultimately resulted in his death and the death of the members of his team. Neil Laughton, a Special Air Service officer, who led a group of adventurers to the Pole, told the BBC he organised the match in honour of Scott because cricket was “quintessentially British and I wanted to do something that does not happen down here very often, if at all.”

In sub-zero temperatures, the players had to bat, bowl and field in the kind of gear Jonathan Trott would take a few hours to adjust. “Obviously it was very cold and difficult with all the bulky clothing to bat and bowl and slide around in the field to catch the ball but we managed it fine,” Laughton said.

The good news is that any time a cricketer complains he’s got cramps because of the humidity or that his fingers are numb because of the cold, he can be asked to stop whining and have a look at Laughton and his men. The bad news is that if ever you want to send a particular player to the South Pole, the teams are already full.

Sorry, but when did I walk out to bat? © AFP

Australia opener Ed Cowan is everything but your typical cricketer. He can write, he can tweet, he can do fancy finance stuff. He’s even fielded in a Test match before he made his first-class debut, against Pakistan in 2005. But he cannot remember walking out to bat in the second innings of his debut Test at the MCG last month. Cowan had been so enthusiastic in doing warm-ups on the second morning of the Boxing Day Test that he got a sore back, which required a generous dose of painkillers. “Having hurt my back, I now know what it is like to bat high, because I had so much codeine in my system I cannot remember walking out to bat,” Cowan told TripleM Sydney radio.

Cowan then went on to reveal that he was also down a few beers down when he was called out of the SCG Members Bar as a substitute Test fielder in 2005. “I had had a few earlier that morning, but that was later that afternoon,” Cowan said. “I was sober - I would have been able to drive home. They did ask me if I had been drinking, I said no. It was only six balls and I did not touch one so there is no need to get too carried away.

“So I have done both. I have fielded with a few beers under the belt, and batted with a few too many Panadeine Fortes in the system.” Now that is an achievement that will take some downing.

The Benaud fan club hope day two at the SCG can become a permanent celebration of the former Australian captain © Getty Images

Jane McGrath day is established on day three of the New Year's Test at the SCG to raise awareness of breast cancer but a group of ardent fans want the second day of the match to raise awareness of something quite different.

A group of fans hope their efforts can turn day two into a celebration of Richie Benaud. The fan club come decked out in Benaud attire - beige suits, silver wigs - and with microphones in hand, hoping to turn a drinking game into support to honour Benaud.

"Richie was a great cricketer and captain of Australia but also a great journalist and commentator," Michael Hennessy, leader of the fan club, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I''ve only really seen him at his best commentating but if you look back he was a flamboyant allrounder, great leggie, an aggressive batsman and you just love him more and more."

The fan club has doubled in numbers each year since 10 fans first donned Benaud-dress in 2009. They aim to fill an entire bay at the SCG to celebrate the great Australian.

As India’s batsmen continue to struggle in Australia, most would agree they could do with a lesson in patience - in ‘playing the waiting game’. Well, the whole team was subjected to one prior to Monday’s pre-match function at the Kirribilli House (the official residence of the Australian Prime Minister in Sydney).

The Indians arrived early for the meet-and-greet with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, and were made to wait outside the gates. They turned up at 1.45pm, the newspaper reported, 15 minutes before the function was due to begin. However, it had been pushed to a 2.10pm start, and the receiving room and Gillard were not quite ready. So a short wait in the afternoon sun followed, before the players were cleared by security.

By Mohammad Isam

Players arriving for Twenty20 matches in a helicopter is an often-used gimmick. But for Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim and Alok Kapali, a chopper will actually be necessary to get them to the logo unveiling ceremony of the Bangladesh Premier League on time.

The three players are icon players for their respective sides in the upcoming Premier League but will all be involved in matches in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League on December 29, and could have less than an hour to make it to the Radisson hotel in Dhaka for the Premier League event.

Mushfiqur will be playing at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, 40km south of Dhaka, for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club while Nafees and Kapali will face off at the BKSP, to the northwest of Dhaka, for Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Gazi Tank Cricketers respectively. Since the logo unveiling programme begins at 6:00pm and the Premier Division matches could end as late as 5:30pm, the commute from both venues to Hotel Radisson by road will be impractical given Dhaka’s traffic situation, which is particularly bad on Thursday afternoons.

"It is practically impossible for them to reach the event on time, so we will have a helicopter pick them up from one ground and then go to the other. They will be dropped off at the Army Stadium near the hotel," BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said.

The players will still have a mile to cover after arriving at the Army Stadium. Since hardly anything moves on the Airport Road at that hour, they may be late for the ceremony anyway.