Monty Panesar wins 'spot the Andrew Flintoff' competition

There he is!

Paul Collingwood gently punches a pterodactyl

The pterodactyl's just off camera.

It's weird how nonplussed everyone seems. We'd be bricking it if a pterodactyl descended on us.

Maybe everyone just feels safe because they know that Paul Collingwood will be able to repel it.

Australia call up your mate's dad

As a result of Brett Lee's unavailability, Australia today offered a surprise call-up to your mate's dad.

Chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, justified the decision saying: "Your mate's dad's been in great form of late and we wanted to go with a bit of experience. Shaun Tait's coming along well, but we feel that your mate's dad will offer greater consistency.

"He's also closer in age to the rest of the squad, which should help in the dressing room," Hilditch added.

Limbo cricket

Mashrafe Mortaza executes a classic limbo cricket stroke, never once inclining his back above 30 degrees from the parallel.

Youngsters take note: This is how to firmly strike a ball while simultaneously damaging your spine.

Michael Vaughan stretches to tickle a pterodactyl under its chin

(It's just off camera)


'There's a good prehistoric winged vertebrate.'

Paul Collingwood would never make a schoolboy error like this. Look how horrified Michael Atherton is.

Lou Vincent successfully defends both of his stumps

In 2005, plagued by an inability to know where his off stumps was, Lou Vincent did the logical thing and made a series of appearances in the World Two Stump Cricket League in which the off stump does not feature.

Vincent was a roaring success and buoyed by his newfound form, returned to three stump cricket a much-improved batsman.

Graham Gooch however, confronted his weakness head-on, taking up French Cricket after being on the receiving end of one too many Terry Alderman lbws.

West Indians 'disappointed' in England's on-field behaviour

Tino Best pointedly ignores Steve Harmison and Nasser Hussain as the pair indulge in their favourite pastime of "jumping".



The whole West Indian team lodged a formal complaint about England's on-field behaviour during the 2004 series in the Caribbean. The West Indians felt that some of England's joyous shenanigans were tantamount to time-wasting.

"Jumping" came in for particularly heavy criticism.

Michael Vaughan sent to bed without any tea

Here we see a snapshot of that infamous day when Michael Vaughan and Ashley Giles played cricket down the drive using Michael's dad's Jaguar as a set of stumps.

Michael's dad brought the case to the ICC who ruled that Michael Vaughan had 'acted contrary to the spirit of the game'.

Michael's mum was also moved to tell Ashley's mum, because the pair had foolishly been playing 'in their best clothes'.

Sachin Tendulkar square cuts Nasser Hussain to the boundary

Literally.

This was the famous 1996 Edgbaston Test when the ball was pocketed by a member of the crowd. Nasser Hussain gamely offered to act as a replacement.

Unfortunately for Hussain, Alan Mullally was unable to make him swing. Sachin Tendulkar consequently doled out punishment. Here we see him deliberately smashing Hussain over backward point.

Allegations that Ronnie Irani lifted Hussain's seam during this innings were unproven.

ICC to investigate shocking three-way tie

The world of international cricket was thrown into disarray today after the ICC's corruption unit announced it was investigating the astounding three-way tie that came about during a game of scissors, paper, stone between England players.



The players in question were James Anderson, Ashley Giles and Darren Gough, who each opted for 'stone'.

The ECB responded to the allegations saying that while there was only a one in 27 chance of this specific outcome, there were also two other outcomes - namely 'all scissors' and 'all paper' - that would equally have aroused suspicion.

The ECB therefore considers this to be within the bounds of expectation for a sporting event such as this and does not consider that anything untoward has occurred.

Shoaib Akhtar uncovers VVS Laxman's deception

The third Test between Pakistan and India in 2004 was dogged by controversy. VVS Laxman had led a seemingly charmed life during his innings of 71 when ball after ball from Shoaib Akhtar beat him for pace, without ever once striking the stumps.

This picture depicts the moment when Shoaib Akhtar extended his follow-through, giving him a glimpse of VVS Laxman's stumps for the first time.



Laxman had been defending only two stumps without bails the entire time having pocketed the middle one on his arrival at the crease.

Shoaib Akhtar's rage is clear for all to see. He points at Laxman, correctly indicating that he suspects the batsman has done this himself.

Faisal Iqbal dematerialises at Headingley in 2006

During the 2006 Headingley Test between England and Pakistan, Faisal Iqbal momentarily dematerialised.

Here we see Mohammad Yousuf checking inside Faisal Iqbal's helmet to see whether maybe he'd just shrunk or something.



Alas, no. Faisal Iqbal had not merely shrunk. He had completely vanished.

Fortunately, he rematerialised moments later, but was promptly given out lbw to Paul Collingwood for a golden duck.

Younis Khan perfects 'bullet time'

Here we see Younis Khan demonstrating his ability to use 'bullet time'. Younis makes everything move really slowly except himself. This gives him ample time to react to whatever's bowled.



In order to combat this, Steve Harmison has taken to bowling from only one yard away from the batsman, but still Younis is untroubled.

He hovers, watching the ball closely, before spanking the ball back past the bowler for four using a peculiar stroke akin to the action of chopping wood with an axe.

It's also a no-ball.

How to stop batsmen from stealing a quick single

Or you can bring the field in a bit.

An appeal for no genitals

The little-known mode of dismissal 'no genitals' occurs when a member of the fielding side takes the field without their reproductive organs.



Shane Warne, having just bowled a delivery to Andrew Strauss, notices that Matthew Hayden has no genitals and consequently appeals. The other fielders join in, Hayden indicating that he is the subject of the appeal by thrusting his groin towards the umpire.

'No genitals' had been a rarely used mode of dismissal up until the 2005 Ashes series when it had to be withdrawn as the Australians came to rely on it as almost their sole means of dismissing opposing batsmen.

A certain amount of credit/guilt for this update should go to former Goodie, Tim Brooke-Taylor who described an appeal for LWB (large white baggies) in his book 'Tim Brooke-Taylor's Cricket Box'.