Those of you who think that cricket is a soft game needed to be watching the afternoon session at Old Trafford today. It saw a magnificent display of aggressive fast bowling from Jimmy Anderson. Ross Taylor coped well with it, limbo dancing under the short-pitched balls where necessary, and using the pace on the ball to help it to the boundary otherwise. Daniel Flynn, on the other hand, didn’t have the same degree of judgment. He tried to hook one that was headed for his nose… and missed. Fortunately his helmet grill took most of the impact, but he still lost a tooth and wisely went off for a bit of medical attention. That brought in Jacob Oram who, at 6′ 7″, finds it difficult to get out of the way. A few balls later Anderson hit him on the side of the helmet, and in the next over rapped him on the gloves twice. But Oram is a tough nut, and he hung in there, taking the bruises, until rain forced the players off for an early tea. Splendid stuff. None of this namby-pamby getting a free base for getting hit.