Panesar the PR man

Rare are the days when a modern cricketer doesn’t mention his sponsor or speak in clichéd tongue in a press conference. But Patrick Kidd, in today’s Times, observed a new Monty Panesar yesterday at a promotion of Urban Cricket in South London.

Most of the important buzzwords were there. “We took positives out of the last defeat” — TICK; “You have to give India credit” — TICK; “It was played in the right spirit” — TICK; mention of npower, the sponsor, every 30 seconds — TICK. All that was missing was that irksome cliché “we bowled good areas”, which may earn Panesar a black mark.

Yet occasionally the PR mask slips. When talking about bowling at Sachin Tendulkar, for example, Panesar’s eyes suddenly widened and he became as animated and enthusiastic as the council-estate children he had just been coaching.

“It is a special moment being out on a field with such a legend of the game,” Panesar said of the India batsman who was his first Test victim 18 months ago in Nagpur. “I’m still learning as a bowler and I was a bit lucky with the decision that gave me his wicket at Lord’s [in the first Test last month] but it got me jumping up and down and doing the bhangra [dance].”