"Strauss Defends Declaration Delay"

Pakistan drew with England in their first test. This pleases me as England set out with a high total in their first innings. Pakistan came back nicely to force the draw. If you think soccer is boring (if you call the sport soccer, you're more likely to think it boring) with the possibility of a scoreless 90 minutes, think about test cricket. After five days, each side having scored around 700 runs, the result can be a draw - that's right, no one wins. And then you have the reporters, the next day (day 6, in essence), criticizing the captain of the English side for waiting to long to declare. Because, in cricket, you can declare- you say, "we've scored enough runs and we're going to stop batting now". And if you wait too long to declare you might not leave your side enough time, after the other side's innings, to win the game. It's a 5-day game and you can still run out of time. And I'm a big fan, just so you know, although I find the one-day format a touch more engaging.

By the way, I got my visa for Pakistan. So, with 41 days to go, that's another major thing out of the way. Now all that's left is to decide whether or not to by a GPS receiver.