There’s been a problem with the sound on my TV for the last four months, and yesterday I finally got around to taking it in for repair.

“How long it will be?” I asked
“Around a week,” said the engineer.
“That’s fine,” I said.

What will I miss? Just a couple of ODI defeats for England, nothing new. England may be a nation of spectators rather than participants when it comes to sport but it looks like we’re giving that up to. The Barmy Army are selling their tickets and coming home, there was no coverage of cricket in the Guardian today, no preview of the ODI international, only some significant discussion of Aston Villa’s new pay structure, which shows you how far cricket has slipped in the scheme of things. The nation is into displacement when it comes to the summer game.

In fandom land you know that once you reach the lowest point that an upturn invariably arrives. But have we reached the lowest point yet? Bowled out of for 111 and losing by 9 wickets seems pretty bad. Let’s just hope that this is the lowest point.