Sexiest cricketers

What better way than to reward users with a recent Barbados Daily Nation poll of "The Sexiest men in cricket". Click to enlarge each one (and Chris Gayle's muscles) as well as a close-up of Lasitha Malinga's hair. The Sri Lanka paceman has also courted debated back home with his looks and locks, with many fans unimpressed. One fan even suggested that he is "not a decent-looking gentleman". Read more here. And surprising there's no mention of either Shahid Afridi or Sachin Tendulkar for all those millions of female cricket fans out there.

Sportacus strikes...

Carrying on from today's earlier Sportacus post below, this just in. It seems that the superhero has struck already!

Two Indian schoolboys have shared an unbeaten 721-run stand, breaking the schools cricket record set by Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambi, the Press Trust of India have reported. B Manoj Kumar and Mohamed Shaibaaz, playing in an under-13's tournament in Hyderabad, got triple centuries for St. Peter's High School against St. Phillip's High School to beat the previous 664-run mark, PTI said. Opening the innings, Manoj cracked 320 off 127 balls including 46 fours, as Shaibaaz smashed 324 including 67 boundaries. St. Phillips were dismissed for 21. Tendulkar and former India international Kambli racked up their partnership in 1987-88 for Shardashram School in Mumbai.

Sachin's other role

With cricket news in short supply - even with the ICC Champions Trophy - let's focus on Sachin Tendulkar's return to the India side and two clips which might be a reason for his technical brilliance at the crease.

Click on Sachin making a mockery of opposition bowling with his skills or Sachin pulling himself back into form. They're both really rather good.

Elsewhere, read how David 'Bumble' Lloyd's dad is still entertaining folk up north - at the age of 93.

The tale of two Dulka's

A few years ago a house went on sale in Dulka Road, in South London, close to where I am living.

The owner of number 10, Tom Gueterbock, had his change of address cards adorned with an image of the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar thanks to the familiar sounding name of his house number and street name.

Once he was settled it became something of a running joke for his mates to say: "We're going round Sachin's for dinner". Gueterbock even phoned up Wisden to gain some PR when it came to selling the house and subsequently there was massive interest from Indian ex-pats living in London.

This cute little story is contrasted with recent misgivings in the world of cricket blogs. Will Luke, a staffer with Cricinfo, has had to change the name of his blog from 'The Corridor of Uncertainty' to plain old 'The Corridor (a cricket blog)' after the owner of the trademarked former title, Andy Clark, got his lawyers onto him.

Plain bazaar

Behind the Taj Hotel there is a long stretch of stalls known as Colaba Market. Haggling for some jewellery off these wise Indian vendors is a fine art, but I soon found my way and by the end of the stretch came away happy.

Many of the ex-England players out here have seen their fair share of markets during their touring years, but for Athers it's a more surreal shopping experience he can recall.

England were on a trip up the Khyber Pass in the early 90s and found themselves at a bazaar in the mountains. Not known at the time for their love of cricket in Afghanistan, the players were amazed at what happened next.

Athers and Nasser got off the team bus and ventured into the stalls. The former Lancashire opener takes up the story. "We weren't up for any haggling but remarkably and amazingly everyone knew who we were. They all had their little picture cards with Atherton, Hussain and Thorpe.

"These days the players don't really get out much. The ECB have their own security measures and seem to make it compulsory to keep the players under lock and key. I don't think it is necessary myself but that is the way it goes."

***

Which player will walk away from Mumbai with the sponsor's red motorbike as part of the man of the match prizes? Will Hoggy be seen doing another lap of honour to the dismay of BCCI officials, who now count the Wankhede as the governing body's new home?

Whoever it is, the tax will be waived on the bike as it is seen as a prize and not a gift. Four years ago, however, saw a different story when Sachin Tendulkar was gifted a Ferrari 360 Modeno by Fiat for equalling Sir Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries.

The 120 percent import duty was waived by India's Finance Minister after the car was flown in by Air France from Paris the following year. A high court notice was soon issued on the Little Master to pay the outstanding duty, but Sachin still had a fleet to choose from in his garage.

***

The Nobok Legends out in India like nothing better than to kick back with a gin and tonic after a hard day's stint behind the mic.

But their thirst was scuppered in Nagpur when there was no sign of Schweppes' classic yellow India tonic water. They even had to send out their tour operator to find a batch, but all a local could find were a load of Isotonic drinks.

A quick glance in the Taj Hotel bar says they'll be fine in Mumbai.

Gin and iso-Tonics

Behind the Taj Hotel there is a long stretch of stalls known as Colaba Market. Haggling for some jewellery off these wise Indian vendors is a fine art, but I soon found my way and by the end of the stretch came away happy.

Many of the ex-England players out here have seen their fair share of markets during their touring years, but for Athers it's a more surreal shopping experience he can recall.

England were on a trip up the Khyber Pass in the early 90s and found themselves at a bazaar in the mountains. Not known at the time for their love of cricket in Afghanistan, the players were amazed at what happened next.

Athers and Nasser got off the team bus and ventured into the stalls. The former Lancashire opener takes up the story. "We weren't up for any haggling but remarkably and amazingly everyone knew who we were. They all had their little picture cards with Atherton, Hussain and Thorpe.

"These days the players don't really get out much. The ECB have their own security measures and seem to make it compulsory to keep the players under lock and key. I don't think it is necessary myself but that is the way it goes."

***

Which player will walk away from Mumbai with the sponsor's red motorbike as part of the man of the match prizes? Will Hoggy be seen doing another lap of honour to the dismay of BCCI officials, who now count the Wankhede as the governing body's new home?

Whoever it is, the tax will be waived on the bike as it is seen as a prize and not a gift. Four years ago, however, saw a different story when Sachin Tendulkar was gifted a Ferrari 360 Modeno by Fiat for equalling Sir Don Bradman's record of 29 Test centuries.

The 120 percent import duty was waived by India's Finance Minister after the car was flown in by Air France from Paris the following year. A high court notice was soon issued on the Little Master to pay the outstanding duty, but Sachin still had a fleet to choose from in his garage.

***

The Nobok Legends out in India like nothing better than to kick back with a gin and tonic after a hard day's stint behind the mic.

But their thirst was scuppered in Nagpur when there was no sign of Schweppes' classic yellow India tonic water. They even had to send out their tour operator to find a batch, but all a local could find were a load of Isotonic drinks.

A quick glance in the Taj Hotel bar says they'll be fine in Mumbai.