I've put together another thirty-second promo for The Net Sessions, with the help of a fifty-four year-old US Civil Defense announcement. The file (MP3, 128kbps, mono, 469K) can be downloaded here.

In the Saturday night gloom at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Vaas bowled to Tendulkar, who hit a single. Before another ball could be bowled, the umpires offered the light to the batsmen for the day and off they went. There's more to that ball and that run, however. It brought up the 100 for Sachin Tendulkar, his 35th in Test cricket.

It's not just a great moment in parliamentary behaviour, but a great moment in understated journalism, as the Press Trust of India began a wire report on Tuesday with the following:

Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Gawande created commotion in Maharashtra Assembly today by pouring kerosene on his clothes and trying to consume some poisonous substance to protest against, what he called, DF Government's "apathy" towards scores of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, an act resulting in his suspension for rest of Winter Session.

Dileepan Narayanan, who is an engineering student at the University of Minnesota (correct me if I am wrong on this!) has written an excellent piece on changes to Sachin Tendulkar's batting grip over the years.

I've critiqued CricInfo's entry into the blogosphere a bit more than I wanted to or indeed should have, but I'll wrap it today by commending the two latest additions to their stable.

I subscribe to the view that calling Adam Curry the inventor of podcasting is akin to calling Al Gore the inventor of the internet. Which enables me to have a chuckle at this item posted in the last hour by Frank Barnako on his Internet Daily column on Marketwatch.com (free rego might be required to read this).

You've probably noticed some of these already, but here we go:

Firstly, I have now merged my old blog with the current one, and this makes for a fairly comprehensive compilation of all the cricket-related stuff that I have written since 1996 that isn't owned by Anyone Else. (Hence the gap from 1997 to 2001. - If you do want to see the stuff I have written or edited that is owned by Anyone Else, follow this link.)

Please use the form below if you wish to send Rick a message.

JANE HUTCHEON [ABC radio]: Am I correct in saying that Friday, is that the Prime Minister's Cricket 11 match that's going to go ahead?

JOHN HOWARD: Yes, the game against the West Indies, yes.

JANE HUTCHEON: And that's on Friday…

JOHN HOWARD: Yes, yes.

JANE HUTCHEON: …the same day that Van Nguyen is going to be executed…

JOHN HOWARD: Yes.

JANE HUTCHEON: Do you think it would be sensitive to see you attending that cricket match?

A fabulous innings from Brian Lara is at an end. It's almost certainly his last Test match in Australia, which makes it a pity for Melbourne and Sydney's sake.

Lara now has 11,146 runs in Test matches for the West Indies. Let's hope he can score at least 29 in the second innings to pass Allan Border's total in Test matches for Australia, and put the world record beyond dispute.