Podcasting summer

Nutley's podcasting summer got under way today. Listen to the first airing at history website sportasylum by clicking here.

There's Sir Garfield Sobers talking about Headingley and Gatt, Nasser and Gooch on the great Caribbean fast bowlers of old. Listen out for more audio over the coming weeks as I explore the great West Indian fielders from the past: Learie Constantine, the panther Roger Harper and Clive Lloyd.

Better with age

Graham Gooch managed 6000 runs in his thirties and it looks like the former England captain's adage of "I just got better with age" has rubbed off on more recent county stalwarts. We've already heard about Graeme Hick in this column and now it's the turn of Surrey's Mark Ramprakash.

Not content with stripping off his shirt and waving it around his head in celebration earlier this year, he's only gone past 2,000 runs this season, which includes a triple ton. Amazing, but then speak to any of his colleagues (or read his diary from last year's campaign) and it is no surprise he has achieved the landmark at his age. Technically brilliant, he clearly still has the drive to succeed at the highest level.

Essex's 38-year-old Andy Flower is another who is in a rich vein of form having scored a big double ton recently, and what's to say one of these two won't hand out the same punishment in the fast-paced environment of the Twenty20 finals tomorrow?

Hair today

If Warney thought he might get a quiet summer with Hampshire before the Ashes campaign, he has been sorely mistaken. Nobok's No.2 cricket legend has been in the news again, but this time for his hair-loss treatment ads, which were found to be in breach of British advertising industry rules.

The Hampshire skipper's image appeared beneath a headline reading: "Advanced Hair, Yeah, Yeah!", followed by the phrase: "Warnie, Warnie, Warnie." The 36-year-old was quoted as saying: "I've been hearing it for years but to me I've always taken it as a warning. And that warning was that if I didn't do something about my hair loss they may well have been chanting 'Baldy'!" However, the standards watchdog concluded that the ads had over-used the rules against celebrity endorsement.