Yozzer's win-ometer

Although his stint as Channel 4 TV’s Analyst ended last summer, Simon Hughes is in India for the Daily Telegraph and continues to come up with sparky technical innovations. The latest is a ‘win-ometer’ on the Telegraph website; Yozzer produces regular updates on which side he reckons the match is swinging towards and the needle on the win-ometer moves accordingly.

The idea is that eventually there will be a betting tie in: you look at the needle to see what Hughes at the ground reckons will happen, eye-up the bookies’ odds on the alternative outcomes and decide whether he’s got it right or not before placing your bet. “Remember”, as Peter Snow, inventor of the original swing-ometer (used on UK election nights) used to say, “ it’s just a bit of fun”. Except, of course, if you take Yozzer’s advice and he gets it wrong.

TV’s loss was today my gain, as in the press box I ended up sat next to the man behind the new gizmo. “So Simon”, I ask while watching England’s batsmen play India’s spinners convincingly, “what exactly is the forward press?” Cue a generous, detailed description, complete with a full re-enactment. So today I had my own personal Analyst.

It is all part of the curious circulation of knowledge in a press box. Obviously scoops are kept to yourself (not that I’ve had any to keep hidden) but most of the rest is general currency, with people expected to chip in their own little bit of expertise.

If you have a Wisden connection, like me, you are expected to be a fount of abstruse statistical knowledge, which can lead to some embarrassment when you have to admit that you don’t actually know when the last time a 26-year-old left-handed Surrey opener scored fifty on the first day of a Headingley Test.

And latterly I’ve fielded a few Blackie queries. Today I was approached by a talented Indian journalist who wanted to know something about the allrounder’s haircut. So that’s what I do in the press box: Scyld Berry and the rest offer wise opinion on English cricket history; I offer advice on Blackie’s hairstyle.