Hash's hair-raising honour

Hashim Amla's match-winning triple century at The Oval has won him praise from the most unlikely quarter - the Beard Liberation Front (BLF), a UK-based informal network of the bearded. He has now been made a member of the BLF as an "outstanding example of how a beard can add weight to a sporting performance and make a significant positive impact in the public eye." BLF founder Keith Flett added that with the Olympics due to start soon, Amla had made a statement about the aerodynamic impact of a beard on sporting achievement.

The BLF, which has Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, Australian musician Rolf Harris and actors Brian Blessed and Bill Oddie as fellow members, is more than a comic venture. It takes beards very seriously, having campaigned in the UK to stop workplace discrimination against those who sport beards for religious reasons.