When England decide who should open the batting against India, they should remember that they are replacing Andrew Strauss.
Techno phobia
India have scored a real own goal by not allowing the use of DRS in this series.
I say that because pitches will be low and umpires will be confident of giving lbw's. The one thing they take to take into consideration is bounce and if they understand it is low then it's going to hit the stumps.
I promise you there will be plenty of lbw's in this series and without DRS they won't be able to mount a challenge against the umpires. The officials won't care who is stood in front of the stumps as long as it hits the pads - so India could see one of their best players walking.
It's quite beyond me why India don't embrace DRS because it improves the correct decision percentage by 3 per cent to 4 per cent. The argument put forward by India is that DRS isn't at 100 per cent, which is true, but it's still 4 per cent better than the naked eye.
Beefy gets soggy
It's been well documented that we'll be covering the series from London and as a commentary group we are determined to make it as seamless as possible for the viewers.
The politics behind the decision is out of our hands, but we're determined things will be right for everybody watching. We have an obligation to the public and we're right up for it.
I actually went on a fishing trip with one of my colleagues last week as myself and Beefy went up to Scotland. Suffice to say we didn't catch anything, but we had a good time discussing where we went wrong.
My personal highlight was when Beefy fell foul of an exploding tap. He wandered into the kitchen and encountered one of those taps that splurts when you turn it on. It backfired spectacularly and absolutely drenched him.
He says he's not going in another kitchen ever again...
Let's dance
I have been watching Michael Vaughan on Strictly Come Dancing and, to be honest, I thought he was floundering for a while.
However, I put him in touch with Latin Les and since then he has sailed on. If you speak to him, he'll say he's indebted to Latin Les, who's worked wonders. I'm just glad he got rid of the hanging basket that seemed to be stuck to his backside!
While Vaughan is busy dancing, we've also got Flintoff taking up boxing. It fascinates me that two iconic figures of English cricket are doing things at totally different ends of the spectrum.
Surely there must be some middle ground between the two disciplines? Can't retired English cricketers just take up a spot of DIY to fill their time?
That's all for this week. I'm off to go and finish the junior quiz for the Cricketer at Christmas (confirmed categories include nicknames, geography, who am I, commentators, big hitters and mascots).
Speak to you next week.
England's Test series in India begins on Thursday November 15 at 3.30am on Sky Sports 1 HD
