Watching the game

Yesterday I had to make the decision whether to attend the England v Pakistan match, after Mr Ijaz Butt's irresponsible outburst accusing England of cheating. On the one hand, I wanted to make a protest, but on the other, I didn't want to insult my host, Naynesh Desai, who had kindly invited me to his box at Lord's. Naynesh had the usual sprinkling of fascinating guests, including Lloyd Honeyghan, Kevin Pietersen, Piers Morgan, Devon Malcolm, Ian Botham and David English (king of the Bunbury's). The Chairman of Northampton Cricket Club told me that Giles Clarke (chairman of ECB) had been up until 2am trying to convince Andrew Strauss that the match should go ahead. Not the best preparation for a One Day International. However, the real comment came from the crowd, who simply didn't turn up. It's the first time in my life that I've attended an ODI at Lord's that wasn't packed. To be fair, on the day, the Pakistan team were the better side, and no doubt we will learn from Mr Butt later in the week that England threw the match. If Mr Butt doesn't name names, who will ever listen to anything he says, other than those who've told him to say it?

The editor of the Daily Mirror, Richard Wallace was interrupted by phone several times during the match, and told me with a large grin, that Ed Miliband was on the other end of the line, trying to convince him that the race for leader of the Labour Party was going strongly in his direction, and that the paper might think the time had come to back the winner. Mr Wallace stood firm, telling me that they'd thrown their support behind David Miliband, and would not be changing their mind at this late stage. My first choice would be Diane Abbott, but 'Red Ed' will be just fine, because the last thing the Conservative Party needs is David Miliband.

I left a silent ground at 8.30pm, and must confess, the company of my colleagues in Naynesh's box turned out to be far more interesting than the cricket.