Monkeys stopping play and clothing goof-ups

Monkeys stop play
Yes, monkeys stopped play. In fact they prevented any happening at all on the first day of Lancashire's crunch Championship game against Hampshire because of the damage caused to the pitch following two (Arctic) Monkeys concerts held at Old Trafford a few weeks earlier. The game ended in a predictable draw.

Yellow non-fever
Problems cropped up when Durham and Hampshire both wore yellow in the Friends Provident Trophy final at Lord's. Cricket teams wearing the same colour is not an issue in itself of course, but the yellows were similar enough to apparently unsettle a few television viewers. The ECB did consult the sides ahead of the final, as a spokesman confirmed: "We agreed with them that they should wear the kit they had worn all the way through to the final." Hopefully the kit was washed in between matches.

More clothing capers
In similar news, Cricinfo understands that the umpires for the England Under-19 v Pakistan Under-19 at Shenley were nearly caught short when the teams arrived for the one-dayer to play in whites, rather than pyjamas. The umpires - who have to wear different uniforms too, of course, depending on what colours are being worn - hadn't expected this, but fortunately realised they had just enough kit to get away with it.

Mr Cricket and now Mr Virtual Cricket
Look out, gaming fans, there's a new cricket game about to hit the market. Cricket Life '08 promises that players can not only take part in matches "but to live a virtual life as a cricketer and experience the peaks and troughs of his life". One can only speculate as to what it would be like to play at being off-pitch Shane Warne ("Another pizza, please") or Mark Cosgrove ("Have you tidied your room yet, Mark?") - hang on, isn't this just real life anyway? - but it's Mike Hussey who has endorsed the game. Hussey clearly can't get enough of his own real life as a cricketer, trumpeting: "The concept of living and experiencing the virtual life of a cricketer is appealing." Now, we know he's Mr Cricket, but that's taking his duties too far.

Mark, my words
Celebrities caught with speeding tickets continues to be fodder for broadsheets and tabloids and this time it was Mark Waugh's turn to grace the unenviable driver's seat. Waugh was caught speeding at 123 kph in an 80 kph zone on the New England Highway at Wingen and had to show character references after pleading guilty. Waugh then called upon broadcaster Alan Jones and former Australian captain Mark Taylor to step forward with their heartfelt references which could allow Waugh to retain his license. And that's not all ... he still has until November 16 to attend six-two hour sessions of the traffic offenders program. That's twelve hours of grilling for stepping on the gas. Expect him to walk in with a placard saying - "I'm a celebrity, get me outta here."

The Welsh are here, beware
Carmel and District Cricket Club put itself in the cricketing map after being the first Welsh village cricket team to beat a national side. Hold your breath, it wasn't Australia, but Estonia. Yes, cricket exists in the Baltics. Carmel - during the tour of Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia - also became the first touring side to win the Helsinki Sixes. Their victory prompted a humorous remark from Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Opik, whose parents were refugees from Estonia - "The Baltic states know as much about cricket as Carmel and District CC knows about pickled herring."