Not to be sniffed at

A thankful Bumble blogs after giving away a smelly suit and making it home in time for Christmas.

Pedal power provides shed loads of sights

It's great to be home for Christmas even if I haven't done a thing in the build-up to the big day! I don't like carting things around so I decided not to load up with presents in India. I like to travel light. My plan was to do a bit of shopping in Dubai on the way back but that idea was scuppered by a horrendous flight back. We were on the team charter but the flight had to be re-routed due to the escalating tensions in Pakistan and at one point it was touch-and-go as to whether we were even going to leave. Never mind. The more observant of you will have noticed that I made a new friend during the second Test in Mohali - a rather inquisitive sniffer dog! I was standing out in the middle when he took a bit of a shine to me. The main reason was I'd just had my suit dry-cleaned and it smelt as if they'd doused it in petrol! I tried to tell the cleaners it stank but the language barrier proved a problem. When I took it back they did it again! After three goes I just gave up and gave it to our driver in the end and he was quite pleased with it! Thankfully, there was no repeat this week of the antics in Chennai when each of the television commentators were given ratings by the fans - quite simply, an opportunist way of making money out of people on a telephone. The vote is open to people in the ground but they can't see or hear the TV so they just vote for the people they know. The absolute hoot was that Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was down at the bottom on 7% with me and he was mortified so he went outside on his mobile and got himself up to 27%! Equally funny was a sign we saw at a huge shoe shop that advertised 'Buy one shoe, get one free'!

Wheelie good

And the surprises kept coming. This week I saw three pedal cycles; nothing unusual in that, you might think. But one was dragging a moped, literally towing it along. Another one was carrying a 30ft ladder while the third had a garden shed on it. Not constructed, a sectional garden shed on a pedal cycle with a fellow riding it. But that's absolutely nothing. We also saw a car that said 'Driving School - just point the car and go!' The people here do not have not a clue what side of the road to drive on. When you come to a roundabout there are always four exits and they can come at you from any side. Don't think that a dual carriageway is any safer. If the traffic is more busy on one side than the other they come straight across and come up to you in the outside lane. There saving grace is that they don't go around quickly because they can't due to the cows, horses and carts and all sorts. I'm still a bit bleary-eyed after watching wall-to-wall football in the early morning. Steve McMahon is the main pundit over there - he's very good, calls a spade a shovel, absolutely gets stuck in and doesn't pull any punches. The least said about Accrington and Macclesfield the better, really. I just hope we keep our heads above water in 2009 - if we could get halfway in the league it would be like winning the European Cup! Looking forward, I'm doing the West Indies one-dayers but not the Tests in 2009 so I will get some time to myself. I might head down to Cornwall for a few weeks to walk the beaches. It could be just what I need! Anyway, best wishes to everyone for a prosperous and healthy New Year. Bumble

Bumble answers your questions...

Send your questions to Bumble by filling in the feedback form below. Or you can mail them in by e-mailing skysportsclub@bskyb.com CLEAR AS DAY
Hi Bumble! Why do England bother with a so-called night-watchman? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Jimmy Anderson supposed to take as much of the strike as possible? Instead, he takes a single and a couple of balls later Freddie was dismissed. What a needless wicket. Danny Bryant, Birmingham BUMBLE REPLIES: Jimmy Anderson averages 20 as night-watchman in comparison to 10 as a normal batsman. He obviously thinks more about his batting as a night-watchman. I'm not a fan of it, to be honest. I always think once you've taken a wicket as a fielding side you know that more often than not you are going to get another and get the guy in anyway, so in the last half-hour you could potentially take three wickets. In my experience, the night-watchman is there for the next batsman if he wants it - it should be his decision, not the team's or the captain's. I'd much rather someone said I'll go in and survive. It used to be that batsmen used to let you take over the strike and that's it but sometimes today that proves difficult because they won't let you!