Star Spangled manner

From the Cricket All Stars Twitter feed: "Shane Warne, sachin tendulkar and Shaun Pollock". I guess that second guy is just some New Yorker getting a selfie.

I visited the cricinfo site this afternoon to check whether, as I suspected, the New Zealand team were a little less good-looking than in previous years, further accounting for the general lack of frisson in Brisbane. It’s a bit hard to tell from the official head shots, with their traditional anti-aesthetic. I had not noticed that Brownlie is a startled melange of Michael Slater and Damien Martyn. Complete with bed head (I hope it's bed head).

Anyway, I stumbled on the fact that the Cricket All Stars game was going on in Houston, Texas, so I turned on the television and boy, I was talking about good-old-days nostalgia, no lack of frisson in Houston. Such incredible fun, even before getting to the big guns got I warm and runny over Wasim Akram! Marais Erasmus! A miked-up Sehwag singing a little Indian song! Pollock winking! Fun, fizz, legends with the friendly sheen of middle age and the froth of T20. Who says Test cricket isn't boring? I know, I know, it’s too rich a mix: all smiles, zero tension and foie gras on truffle on fillet steak on duck-fat potatoes… not every day can be a holiday in the South-West of France. Really you need some edge for true frisson, but that just brings us back to the fact that the Gabba Test had no edge either.

The All Stars bowling attacks on both sides was naturally spinner-heavy, naturally heavy full stop, Warnie looks to have lowered his centre of gravity somewhat to be match-fit. But they hit plenty of sixes for a bunch of oldies, and apparently those Minute Maid Park sixes are well over 100 metres.

I never reported back on my visit to Lords, which was great right up to the very end, when the hitherto likeable tour guide hoped the whole thing “hadn’t been too boring for the ladies”. This despite the fact that I had known THE ANSWERS TO ALL THE QUESTIONS, starting with the fact that the first international cricket match was between the US and Canada in the 1850s.

You know you're in America when an 8-year old in the crowd answers the question “What got you into cricket?” with “Cricket keeps you energised… " Then – "You’re a Brian Lara fan?" – “Yes, ma’am". Bless, America.