There are plenty of blogs that give a preview on the days play or theimplications of the playing XI, or XII. This was the main reason I intentionallystarted to swerve away from them. I want my blog to focus on the social issuesthat impact our game and an alternative cricket ranking that I have created,which I believe is better than the official ranking. I mean no disrespect to myfellow bloggers, but sometimes we can be like analysts who predict the numberof iPhones sold and make the share price of Apple fall even if they have soldmore units than the previous year.

I do not have a TV license and will not be reactivating mine for the simplereason that it is not cost-effectiveand the problems associated with activating and cancelling my license is justnot worth the effort. There is still a part of me that is against funding theBBC through the TV license, and the hike in price and comments from GaryLinekar about taking a pay cut are not helping. £1.50 may not mean much, but Iwas working at McDonald’s on Christmas Eve. The sale of Happy Meals that nightwas an anomaly that I can attribute to parents being put through such a degreeof hardship due to job losses resulting from Covid19 that their only option ofgetting a toy for their child for Christmas was through a Happy Meal.Unfortunately, I have not been blessed with a child, but I have known what itis to live as a child on a low income. My post on the cost of watching cricket was to raise awareness that TVlicense is not free. Giving up a TV license could allow you to get Disney+ andAmazon Prime. You can easily make up for the cost of Prime if you start buyingthings online as you do not have to pay delivery fees or have a minimum spendwhich means that you end up getting Prime Video for free. If people have a TVlicense, then I do hope they make full use of it and watch the entire seriesbecause it will be a great one and it really is a good thing that Channel 4 wonthe rights to the series between India and England. The problem is that somepeople are never happy. Some people were complaining that the set was scant andthe media box at Lords should have been used, they complained that there wasn’tdetailed analysis. Finally, they said that Ebony Rainford-Brent was broughtonto the panel because Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss were too white! Youhave to give Channel 4 a break. We did not even know whether we would watch theseries until less than three days before the series. They initially got RishiPersad, and Alastair Cook followed by Strauss and Ebony. They are brilliant,especially considering Ebony’s exposure to the problems that minority peopleface in cricket. I would have loved to see Isa Guha, David Gower or MontyPanesar in the panel but during these times every shred of cricket and expertopinions are precious.