As if the Fake IPL Player didn't do enough damage to the image and sense of well-being among India's elite cricketers, now comes news of "fake" Twitter accounts that claim to be voicing similar thoughts in the first person. And not just any old person: MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir.

The "views" expressed are far removed from the anodyne comments usually trotted out by the stars. In one tweet, Dhoni - or his alter ego - regrets the unfulfilled potential of Vinod Kambli, saying he could have been as great as Tendulkar or Lara.

Yet even pseudo-Dhoni - the real man's brother Narendra has officially denied any family link with the Twitterer - seemed to have got cold feet for within hours there was another tweet reaffirming that Tendulkar was indeed the greatest batsman ever. How predictable...Bring back the Fake IPL Player, we say!

Always one for restraint and good taste, Andrew Flintoff has found an oh-so-subtle way to remind himself of his Ashes triumphs every day. Flintoff has hired craftsmen to produce six-foot tile mosaics of the Ashes urn, inscribed with the years 2005 and 2009, to go on the bottom of the twin pools he’s having built in the basement of his Cheshire mansion.

News of the World reported the pieces will cost £3000 each, a mere trifle considering Flintoff reportedly bought the former home of the Manchester City manager Mark Hughes for £1.85 million only to demolish the place and fork out £2 million on building a six-bedroom house.

The pools are part of a basement leisure complex that also features a gym, sauna, cinema, bar and a snooker room. Fittingly, Flintoff is building in the village of Mottram St Andrew.

Life has come a full circle barely few months into international cricket for Australian opener Phillip Hughes. After a sensational debut series in South Africa, he failed to live up to the hype in the Ashes and was expectedly dumped after two Tests. The determination to set things right has led him to set up an appointment with Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai on Monday. Hughes is in India to train in Nagpur under the guidance of his coach Neil D'Costa, who’s the head coach of a local academy. Hughes stresses that he will get the most out of Tendulkar, even if it takes the whole night.

"I'll chew his ear off,” Hughes told the Australian. “I've got questions about a lot of things that I want to ask him. I like getting around and talking to the guys who have been around for a long time." Keep an eye on Twitter for updates.

Sportsmen can serve up an infinite number of excuses to skip a match, or a scheduled meeting with the media. Just how often would you come across one which goes, “I was attacked by a swarm of bees?” Younis Khan lived to tell one such tale. While backing his car out of the garage, honey bees raided his face, leaving him all swollen in a few minutes. He then showed up late for a local match and was forced to skip a media discussion in Karachi because he couldn’t “speak freely.” Imagine denying Younis that right.

The day wasn’t a total washout. He did manage to show up for a fast-breaking party at the Karachi Press Club in his honour. He assures that it won't affect his preparations for the Champions Trophy.

Roses and candle-light dinners are passe; here's the latest way to woo your fiancee - get your photograph clicked with Indian captain MS Dhoni. Ravindra Singh Saini, a 23-year-old, die-hard fan of Dhoni did just that, and it's wedding bells for him now.

Saini's parents had fixed his marriage with a girl from Himachal Pradesh, in an attempt to quell his craze for Dhoni and cricket. But a locket with Dhoni's picture around Saini's neck annoyed his fiancee, who issued an ultimatum: "Meet Dhoni, get a photograph clicked with him and then come for marriage."

And then there was no stopping Saini. He sold off his small shop of CDs and cassettes in his home town for Rs 15,000, left home and arrived in Ranchi on July 23. He set up camp at a hotel, tried to gather every possible detail about Dhoni and his friends, and visited one of the captain's contacts every day hoping his dream would be fulfilled. But as luck would have it, his money soon ran out and it was time for him to head back. But then a glimmer of hope - news that Dhoni could soon be home. Saini decided to give himself a couple of days, going hungry and even sleeping on the pavement.

And in the end his love triumphed. When Dhoni heard about the story he didn't waste any time in getting ready for the shoot. The light of the flashbulbs then captured Saini's dream: the photo that would hopefully capture his fiancee's heart.

	Salman Khan could become the fifth Bollywood celebrity to have a stake in the IPL © AFP

Move over Shahrukh Khan – Salman Khan is all set to throw his hat (and considerable muscle) into the cricket ring. The Bollywood star, known more in recent times for controversy than critical acclaim, is reported to have shown an interest in bidding for a franchise when the next lot goes up for auction in 2011. He met Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, on Wednesday after several months of discussions and was given the low-down on buying a team. First up, the price tag: $200-300 million per franchise. If he can manage that, and beat off other bidders, Salman could become Bollywood's fifth IPL stakeholder after Shahrukh, Preity Zinta, Juhi Chawla and Shilpa Shetty. If that's a bit too glam-heavy for you, it isn't for Modi. "It [having a film star on board] does add to the spark of the event," he said.

	Darren Gough and dance partner Lilia Kopylova after winning the Strictly Come Dancing's Christmas Special © BBC

However, the chances of a hat-trick appeared to have all but disappeared with the news that this autumn’s series includes former England spinner turned career geezer, Phil Tufnell. Although his post-playing career burgeoned when he won another show - I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here - this one relies more on suppleness and footwork and less on the ability to eat jungle grubs and lark about.

Newspaper reports claim that Tufnell is being paid £30,000 to participate.

Joining him will be a range of individuals from the world of sport and entertainment, including former world champion boxer Joe Calzaghe, five-times tennis grand-slam winner Martina Hingis, retired jockey Richard Dunwoody, and the usual rabble of current and former soap stars.

Jonathan Agnew is not yet a national institution of the same level as his old friend, Brian Johnston, but he’s certainly making steady progress and remains one of the most recognisable voices on British radio. As Test Match Special’s frontman, he (doubtless helped by the tireless Shilpa Patel) manages to secure some high-profile guests for the lunch and tea intervals, and last week managed to invite Lily Allen to be interviewed on the Saturday of the final Ashes Test.

The interview, though, has sparked fierce debate on Twitter - which both Agnew and Allen both use fervently – after it was suggested by the Observer Sports Monthly’s Will Buckley that Agnew had “positioned himself firmly on the pervy side of things”.

Buckley’s innuendo-laden piece was more tongue-in-cheek than an all-out attack on Aggers, but Agnew used his new-found love of Twitter to vent his anger, whipping up his herd into a meringue of support.

“I gave Will Buckley 24 hrs to aplogise for calling me a pervert, and he has declined. If you feel moved by this....[sic]” tapped @aggerscricket. “His boss is brian.oliver@observer.co.uk... well, as you can imagine, I have taken being called a pervert quite badly. Don't want him sacked...just an apology.” The tweets were chirping from Agnew’s phone with fervent vengeance.

Supporting her new friend, Allen has waded in. “I rerally think this Will Buckley guy should apologise to @aggerscricket, he was nothing but kind and gentlemanly to me during our interview [sic],” she vented. “i dont know 1 person that agrees with The Observer on this one. Maybe this is Buckleys attempt at creating a name for himself as the demise.”

At the time of writing, Agnew has 21,473 followers – some way short of Lily’s 1.2m – and his objection to Buckley prompted a regular stream of support from tweeters, at a rate of nearly one per minute. Not enough to prompt a retraction or apology from Buckley, but by 3.15pm Agnew neared to a result. “Apparently a statement from Buckley will be appearing soon in the comments under his ‘article’,” he said, wrapping the final word in angry, accusatory quotation marks.

Buckley's piece raises a grimace more than a smile, and Agnew has just cause for his anger. But the manner of his venting via Twitter is a sign of the times. John Prescott, the former deputy Prime Minister, is an unlikely regularly user himself, a comical happening in itself considering his famous bastardisation of the English language. Prescott today "tortured" the Conservative leader David Cameron on Twitter, slamming him for keeping Lord McColl, the shadow health minister, on the front bench, despite his chairing of a private healthcare company.

And as for the pervert accusation? Baseless and cruel, especially if Shane Warne can be laughed along with during his free-spirited requests on Sky - “Wave, Lily! Wave!” he roared. And she did, too.

Twitter has caused a chirping riot all summer. Philip Hughes, or rather his manager, announced he was not playing the Edgbaston Test under his account, @PH408. He has been silent ever since. Graeme Swann has been the king of cricket tweeting all summer, though. “wow. never felt quite so phenomenaly brilliant as i do tonight!!!” he wrote after England’s Ashes win.

An entertaining interviewee, as candid and honest as Dominic Cork yet he preserves his humility while still remaining witty. “our scoop today is a mild one, ali cook couldn't do a puzzle that said ages four to six on the box!” he tweeted of Alastair Cook’s dodgy technique. Puzzle technique, of course.

It happens every Ashes. Whoever loses is given the treatment by the press, but also by the advertisers, keen to ride the wave of publicity, and toss a few engaging ideas in their mind woks – or some such ad-lingo. With Australia losing the urn, Yahoo! decided to dig the knife in and give it a twist, with the now-traditional fake memoriam of Australian cricket.

The following appeared in yesterday’s Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers in the UK.

The original (below) first ran The Sporting Times all the way back in 1882. A mere 127 years later, the joke’s still going strong.

He may own a Hummer (among other cars) and a Harley Davidson (among other bikes), but MS Dhoni, India’s captain, apparently enjoyed the “ride of his life” in a Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia at a car rally in Bangalore.

Dhoni was invited as a guest on the final day of the K-1000 rally, and after the race was completed expressed his desire to drive one of the racing cars. A briefing about safety measures later, Dhoni, under a race helmet, was off for a ride as the co-driver of the K-1000 winner and veteran rallyist, Arjun Balu. A few slips, a few slides, and two laps of the 2.5 km track at speeds of over 100kmph ensued. The 5000 or so present there cheered throughout.

Though Dhoni didn’t speak to the media, Balu said, "He was like any first-timer inside a rally car. He was extremely excited and even requested me to do a second lap."

The Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes is planning to bring Joseph O’Neill’s acclaimed Netherland to the big screen.

Netherland took O’Neill seven years to write, and he struggled to get it published, but once it was finally in print the reviews were gushing. Set in New York and based on the city’s thriving but seedy world of cricket, it portrays a poignant and at times disturbing view of post-9/11 America.

Mendes, a fervent cricket fan, has asked Christopher Hampton – whose screenplays include Atonement - to adapt O’Neill’s novel and plan to film it some time next year.

"It is a beautifully written book and I quail at the idea of adapting it," Hampton tole The Guardian. "This is a very difficult project, I know that. When Sam first asked me, I said it was too difficult and that I could not do it. But Sam was very persistent and quite eloquent too.

"I don't know why Sam wanted me to do it, but I do know he feels that he has to make it. He told me there really isn't anybody else who could make this film, since he is both a film director and an expat cricket-lover living in New York.”

While there is no shortage of what some would refer to as seasoned celebrity fans, cricket needs a few more young faces. Step up singer Lily Allen. She travelled to the Netherlands for a concert on Friday and got a coach back overnight to be back for the third day’s play and a spot on Test Match Special where she was the Saturday lunchtime guest.

Among admitting she had a soft spot for Graham Onions, Allen revealed she got into cricket when Andrew Flintoff “had a pee” in the prime minister’s garden after the 2005 series. Her father – actor Keith Allen – is a cricket lover and used to play for pub sides.

So keen was she to keep up with the score in the Netherlands that, finding the tour bus had no long-wave reception, she used one of her tour band’s electricians to rig up a mobile phone to the speaker system and listen via the web.

Allen was invited onto the show when cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew got in touch with her via Twitter she replied she "couldn't think of anything she would more like to do".

Those within the ECB’s marketing department who dismiss fans that shun new innovations as being too old school will have been shocked to find out she prefers Test cricket to Twenty20 - "It's a polar opposite to what I do … it's so relaxing when my life is so fast" - and also that she is no fan of England’s George Hamilton-teeth white kit.

How much would you pay to be coached by Sachin Tendulkar for a day? Hopefully quite a bit since it will all go to charity for underprivileged children. “I will spend time with the guy who auctions generously, I don't want kanjoos [miserly] people,” Tendulkar told Daily News & Analysis. But Tendulkar said bids would be measured by the passion with which people gave and not just the amount. The idea to organise the charity event, Tendulkar said, came after his daughter Sara decided to spend her last birthday organising a fair for underprivileged children in a Mumbai suburb. “She felt good and I was extremely proud of her,” Tendulkar said. “What goes on in-between those ears in that small head is what matters, and I know she's on the right track.” Time to dig in to your pockets to learn how to mess with Shane Warne’s mind.

A team of eunuchs has beaten a team of professional cricketers in what is believed to be the first match involving a side completely made up of eunuchs. They are social outcasts in Pakistan, where the match took place, but recent changes in the law implemented by Iftikhar Chaudhry, the country’s chief justice, have given them more rights.

“I want to dedicate our victory to him,” Sanam Khan, captain of the eunuchs' team, told the BBC. “It is only due to him that things are changing for eunuchs in Pakistan.”

The match at Sukkur, a city in Sindh, attracted a decent crowd and it is reported the eunuchs did an impromptu dance on the pitch after securing the win.

Despite a near-total media blackout in the dark days since England's humiliation at Headingley, the ECB were left dumbfounded this week when their 14-man squad for Thursday's Ashes decider was revealed in the press, with absolute certainty, a full two days before the official announcement was made at 9.30am on Sunday.

No Ravi Bopara, no Mark Ramprakash, not even a Robert Key. Instead Jonathan Trott was inked in for a Test debut, and Monty Panesar recalled as a potential second spinner. The accuracy with which these details were reported was uncanny, and briefly led the six men involved in the five-hour selection meeting at Trent Bridge to suspect foul play. Had the room been bugged? Had somebody been hiding behind the curtains, or under the table?

Embarrassingly, the truth appears to have been more prosaic. At the end of the deliberations, a piece of paper with the squad jotted down on it was reportedly scrunched into a ball, tossed into a waste-paper bin ... and duly pounced upon by the journalists down the corridor who had gathered to watch Warwickshire's County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.

The 'Top of Europe' five-over match between India and an All-Star team from England at the highest accessible point in Europe – in Interlaken, Switzerland - resulted in the former prevailing by four runs. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev, who led the winning side, led from the front with 26, as they piled on 108 in five overs. There were also significant contributions from Sandeep Patil (25) and Ajay Jadeja (26).

During the chase, the England team were propped up by Radford, who scored 25, along with ICC match referee Chris Broad and Collis King, both of whom managed 26. It was left to the pair of skipper Alvin Kallicharran and John Emburey to get 38 off the last over.

A six off every ball was not impossible since the ball was disappearing regularly to the glacier 50 yards away from the centre. Jadeja then bowled a no-ball and the asking rate came down to five per ball and six off the last. Kallicharran aimed for the straight field but was beaten by the bounce and mishit behind the 'keeper for just a single.

The fans soon rushed on to the artificial pitch, to join Kapil and his team, and umpires Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Farokh Engineer, to sing the Indian national anthem and celebrate the victory.

"The event was supposed to be a fun thing, but once you wear your cricket gear, you only want to win and we were happy to do it on our Independence Day in front of Indian tourists," Kapil told the Times of India.

Patil said though the artificial pitch behaved well but "running on snow was a problem”. “The ball was bouncing but we kept it at a reasonable pace.”

MS Dhoni may be on more television ads than Sachin Tendulkar these days but it hasn’t quite made him the most recognised face in the country. Film director Ram Gopal Varma, known for his Indian mafia and horror movies, failed to recognise Dhoni when the Indian captain walked up to greet him at Bangalore airport. Though Varma denies reports that he mistook Dhoni for a wannabe actor and asked him to drop off his photographs at his office, he did confirm he did not know who it was. “Yes, it’s true,” Varma was quoted as saying in the Times of India. “I’m hopelessly ignorant about cricket. Only after he left, the people with me told me that he’s Dhoni. I'd like to apologise to him the next time I meet him.”

Andrew Symonds is serving out his suspension from the Australian team by training with his hometown rugby side, the Broncos, who are gunning for their 18th straight final in the National Rugby League. Symonds is famously passionate about rugby - to the extent of shoulder-charging a spectator who invaded the field at the Gabba - and one of his most recent public appearances was at a Gold Coast Titans game soon after flying back from England following his ban.

Broncos coach Ivan Henjak said he was happy to have Symonds’ international experience at hand and said he was not a disruption to his players. “It’s been nothing but positive from my end, I’m very happy to have him here,” Henjak was quoted as saying in Australia’s Daily Telegraph. “… having his presence around is good for everyone. He has a wealth of experience of playing top-level sport, he has a lot to offer. He’s played cricket at highest level. That experience is invaluable, no matter what sport you play.”

Symonds, who was banned by Cricket Australia after breaking a alcohol ban just before the World Twenty20 in England, has said he considered switching sports and joining the Broncos back in 2002. But an unexpected Australian call-up to the World Cup squad in 2003 made him stay with cricket.

The extent of the ECB's paranoia in the wake of England's crushing defeat at Headingley has been revealed at a Street Sixes event in the City of London, hosted by the team's principal sponsors, Vodafone.

The main guest at the 24-team event near Liverpool Street was Matt Prior, who has been one of England's success stories of the summer, with sound keeping allied to reliable and fast-scoring form in an otherwise ropey middle order.

"I think Prior's been outstanding," his mentor and manager, Alec Stewart told Cricinfo this week. "Coming into this series there were question marks about him, but he's gradually winning his critics over. His batting you could never question, and I think his glovework has been outstanding.

"In the last 29 chances that have come his way, he's spilt one. Alan Knott used to always say to me that you work on a 90 percent success rate, and he's way above that. He's in there now on merit.

"It's nice that we're not reading about any mistakes he may or may not have made," Stewart added. "People are starting to write positively about him."

Or so they would, given half a chance. But instead of exploiting his current confidence and turning it to their advantage, the ECB chose to ban Prior from doing any media intervals other than brief setpieces with Sky Sports and the BBC. Even the topic of the sixes event was off-limits.

A frustrated Vodafone spokesman put a brave face on the situation. "Ultimately, we are supporters of the England cricket team," she said, "and we don't want to do anything that upsets them."

Not for much longer mind you. Vodafone's 12-year support of English cricket comes to an end next summer, with Brit Insurance set to take over, and so it doesn't really matter if the two parties fall out.

"The best thing is that the journos have not been writing or saying anything about Prior which to me says that he's kept very, very well," said Stewart. In the ECB's current state, it says something else as well.

The Barmy Army weren’t responsible for the fire alarm going off in Australia’s hotel in Canterbury. The players, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, were briefly concerned it was revenge for the England squad being woken at 5am by warning sirens on the first morning of their horrific Headingley Test.

Some Fanatics, part of an Australian support group, claimed they flicked the switch in Leeds, although hotel staff said it was caused by a guest’s clothes being placed on a heater. In Canterbury a faulty smoke detector set off the alarms.

More bells were ringing with Stuart Law’s self-promotion for a spot in England’s team for The Oval. Law, who played one Test for Australia in 1995-96 and 54 ODIs, told the Australian he should be considered alongside Mark Ramprakash.

"They are talking about everyone else so I'm putting my hand up as well -- I'm available and ready to play for England next week," Law said, hopefully tongue in cheek. "I'm in awesome touch, I scored a terrific century in a game for Lashings today."

Never again let it be said that the BCCI doesn’t have a heart. Even as the world unites to rail against its greed, arrogance and other deadly sins, the Indian board has sanctioned a grant worth Rs 25 crores ($5 million) for the All-India Football Federation (AIFF). India isn’t short of football fans – it’s an emerging market eyed by FIFA and the Premiership – but it does lack a national team worth cheering (India have qualified once for the World Cup – in 1950). Now they have the 2011 Asian Cup finals in Qatar to aim for, and plan to use the BCCI’s grant for their "Goal 2011" project, in which 25 top players will be taken off club duty for nine months to build the team.

It isn’t, though, an act of reckless charity. Indian cricket is headed (de facto, if not de jure) by Sharad Pawar, a minister in the federal government and a member of the Nationalist Congress Party from Maharashtra; Indian football is headed by Praful Patel, a minister in the federal government and a member of the Nationalist Congress Party from Maharashtra. So you could say there is sound reasoning for them to play ball.

Mark Ramprakash has no shortage of supporters calling for his reinstatement to the England team for the final Ashes Test, but none more vociferous than Karen Hardy. Together, Ramprakash and Hardy sashayed their way to glory on the BBC's top-rating Strictly Come Dancing programme in 2006, and Hardy believes her one-time dance partner can lead England to similar heights at The Oval.

“Mark, what an opportunity this is, I can’t think of a more worthy person to come to England’s rescue at this late stage!" Hardy wrote in an email to Cricinfo. "It may have been seven years but you have proven yourself time after time with your amazing performance records with Surrey. Of course I know it has to be down to some of the tricky footwork I gave you in your dancing. (Maybe you can take some with you to share with the team!) You’ve been a great support to Conrad and I with setting up Karen Hardy Studios and now I wish you the best of luck and hope to see you raising a trophy once again!”

Like Ramprakash, Hardy is 39 and at the centre of a media storm relating to age. The Mirror recently reported she would be replaced on this season's Strictly Come Dancing with 25-year-old Lithuanian Katya Virshilas, however the BBC denied an "ageist" agenda and pledged to find her a new role on the programme. Ramprakash and Hardy received a perfect 40-out-of-40 from the judges for their tango and salsa routines during the 2006 Strictly Come Dancing final, and earned the lion's share of the 12 million viewer votes taken by the BBC. Darren Gough won the title the previous year.

England have been waiting for the real Ian Bell to stand up during this series and it appears they haven't come any closer to finding him. Twitter followers who thought they were gaining an insight into Bell's thinking were disappointed to discover that the user "ianbellmbe" was a hoax.

Comments on the Twitter page over the past week included "Getting back to county cricket is just what i needed! Rebuild, regroup, refocus, reenergise, recharge, resolve, revenge", and "The ashes big top moves on to leeds! It's great being part of the circus - as long as i'm more lion tamer than clown!"

But an ECB statement has confirmed that the entries are the work of an impostor. "These remarks were definitely NOT posted by Ian Bell," the statement said. "They are the work of a hoaxer and therefore should be disregarded."

If only Phillip Hughes could have used the same excuse. He found himself in a pickle with team management when his manager posted the fact that Hughes had been dropped from the Test team for Edgbaston before the announcement had been made public.

Graham Onions has become a Twitter target for English pop starlet Lily Allen, but soon she might be thinking of the fast bowler when singing her hit song “It’s not fair”.

“Is Onions married?,” Allen tweeted on Monday. He’s not, but he’s got a girlfriend. “I’m happy with her,” Onions said. “She doesn’t sing.” Onions would like to meet Allen, but thinks she’d be disappointed. “She’s obviously not seen me in real life,” he said.

As cricket scales newer heights, 14 former international players, including five Test captains, will make a comeback of sorts at the Bernese Alps in Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, Europe's highest altitude railway station. The proposed six-a-side match, to be played at 11,333 feet, will have an Indian team playing an All-Stars side. The five-over contest could feature stars like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Viv Richards, Mohammad Azharuddin, Steve Waugh, Michael Vaughan, Chaminda Vaas, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja, Shane Warne and even Andrew Flintoff.

Organised by Jaideep Sinh Parmar, the grand-nephew of former Indian cricket chief Raj Singh Dungarpur, the match has been scheduled for August 15, India’s Independence Day. "We are hosting it during the Independence weekend...” said Parmar. “We are bringing back players who have bid goodbye to cricket and the list includes five former Test captains,"

Interestingly, the matting pitch, which will be flown out from India, will be placed on a giant wooden square that has been placed at the centre of a 30-yard field. “Depending on the day’s wind conditions, we will decide upon the direction of the pitch,” Parmar said.

The organisers have wisely kept a reserve day for the game. “The temperature is expected to be around 2°C, but with the heavy winds that lash the peak, you never quite know,” Parmar said.

Security guards formed a perimeter around the team dressing rooms and the entrance to the Eric Hollies Stand after a threat was reportedly phoned into authorities during the final day of the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston. A thorough search was conducted and a section of the grandstand evacuated around the lunch break. No suspicious packages were found, and the all-clear was given after 30 minutes.

The Waugh brothers are probably the most famous twins to play cricket, but at least you could tell them apart. That wasn’t the case with Nazim and Zahid Mohammed who were identical twins, and they tried to use it to their advantage.

While playing for New Brighton in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition they decided to make the most of each other’s skills. Nazim, the better bowler, was named in the side but when his team’s turn came to bat he switched with Zahid who was meant to be the better batsman.

The opposition couldn’t tell the difference, but what gave them away was probably that Nazim bowled right hand and Zahid batted left. Officials noticed and reported the pair who were and the pair were banned and have also resigned. The team manager also quit despite not knowing anything of the mischievous plan.

The irony in all this is that the switch didn’t even help. Zahid made a duck. That’s karma.