The wrong kind of policing

The area of Colchester has been mercifully free so far of any civil unrest that has ravaged so much across Britain's inner cities these last few days. It seems that the most volatile areas are those where the policing is sadly at its most liberal or at its most under-funded, whereas in Colchester - an area not unfamiliar with rowdy, chavvish behaviour - any reciprocal violence in response to any other acts of vandalism has been quietly kept in check.

For those removed from the danger, it seems exaggerated and aloof. For those in the midst of the terror, the sense of insecurity is palpable. All one can do is carry on going about one's normal lives. Carefully.

That's Out!

The complacent decision by Ian Bell to return to the pavilion at the tea interval and subsequent "run out" at the Second Test, is, as time will tell, a likely storm in a teacup, but it does draw attention to how players continue to ride on oblivious to umpiring, an attitude actively encouraged with the Decision Review System, that allows them to dissent further from the figure of authority in the field.

It was also, as much as a sporting gesture by the Indians to "the spirit of the game" (for whom it did otherwise very little good), a way of taming the angry and mostly drunken Trent Bridge crowd, who only minutes before were gleefully Mexican waving, and equally oblivious to the on-field action as Ian Bell was at teatime.

Ian Bell misguidedly heads to the pavilion for his teatime cuppa - before the umpire has told him to, meanwhile the Indians have whipped the bails off.