Bill for stickers

Well then, an out of form left hander whose batting had gone backwards did get a few yesterday - but it wasn't Alastair Cook. Cookie still can't buy a run. Stuart Broad - remember him, one time England number six in the making - did what he used to do, swung merrily and actually connected for once.

Some say Broad's batting went into reverse because he's not actually getting any batting, others think it's because he can only swing or block and he's been sussed out. It's none of those things though. Broady only went and did the classic didn't he? He changed his bat sponsor as soon as he started scoring runs.

Always fatal, that. Broad went from proper bat-making comrades Gunn & Moore to horrid arrivistes adidas. Graeme Swann went from Gray-Nicolls to Gunn & Moore and the same thing happened to him. Bit of hubris, really.

Just shows the perils of sponsoring tail-enders, eh?