England v Sri Lanka – day four live! | Ian McCourt and Alan Gardner

• Press F5 to refresh this page or use the auto-refresher • Email Ian with all your thoughts mccourti@gmail.com 51st over: Crap! I was so distracted by the Seinfeld clips coming in that I seemed to have missed an over. Since then, something has happened. Ian Bell nearly got caught and it’s now 208-4. “I’m looking forward to this,” says Robin Hazlehurst. “Not the cricket, the OBO, it’s always much funnier when done by someone who doesn’t know what is going on. Scott Murray (I think) even managed to make Formula 1 interesting once by blatantly having no clue or giving the slightest one. Klutzian commentary is an art form in its own right, I’ll enjoy your effort at it. No pressure then.” No pressure indeed. 49th over: Nothing has changed. It’s still 203-4. You really need a lot of patience to watch this sport don’t you? Daryl Vodden has hollered. “Don’t worry about a lack of cricketing knowledge old boy. I guarantee you that, by the end of the day, you’ll be using phrases such as ‘laced it through the covers’ and ‘lost his off peg’. And I promise you they’re not dirty.” I’m not sure I believe him. Can someone verify those phrases for me please? 48th over: Jimmy Anderson has hit the boundary. That’s a 4 right? England are now 203 for 4. Stephen Armson’s favourite Seinfeld scene involves one of my favourite characters Tim Whatley. You can watch it here . 10:59am: A second email. This time from Tom Crane, who assures me “most of us reading this are still blotto on gin and Relentless from last night.” Let’s hope so Tom. Otherwise, this over-by-over may not make much sense. Tom also warms to the Seinfeld theme of the morning with two great picks. This one and this one . 10:52am: This being my first over-by-over (I’m usually the guy who makes the coffee in the office) I’ve just realised that we need to put these time markers at the start. Done. David Gower tells me that the cricket is about to start. But not before Sky get a montage in. They do love those montages, don’t they? Nasser Hussain is talking about Kevin Pietersen. He keeps using the world whack. Whack, whack, whack, whack. I feel like I’ve been left out of a joke here. My first email. Huzzah! And it’s from Ron Leach who says: “Delighted to read that you don’t know anything about cricket; you’ll be among friends here, then. You’ll enjoy your day”. I’m not sure enjoy is the right word. Sheer terror might be more apt. The sun is shining at the Rose Bowl. I’m guessing we’re going to have some cricket. The lads in the Sky studio seem confident that England will do well today. Knowing no better, I’ll have to believe them.The sun is shining at the Rose Bowl. I’m guessing we’re going to have some cricket. The lads in the Sky studio seem confident that England will do well today. Knowing no better, I’ll have to believe them. Good morning all. I have just got the call to say that our resident over-by-over expert Rob Smyth is feeling unwell and so won’t be able to make it in today. So until Alan Gardner reaches manages to reach the office, I’m afraid that you are going to left in the less than capable hands of myself. I know nothing about cricket other than it takes a few days and they’re all scared of rain. So for the next hour or so, why don’t we all talk about our favourite Seinfeld moments? I’ll kick things off with a classic, when Kramer takes home the set of the Merv Griffin show . Sri Lanka in England 2011 England cricket team Sri Lanka cricket team Cricket Alan Gardner guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.