Not literally...

I think it's pretty clear that there are many people, in all walks of life, who struggle with the concept of reality. Whether it be mormons, believers in Intelligent Design or the producers of Stop: Or my mum will shoot!, society seems to be full of them.

Sport, and cricket in particular, is not immune to this disease. You only have to listen to ten seconds of Bob Willis or Ian Botham speak to realise this. But it is with slight concern that I read this morning that new England Captain Andrew Strauss appears to be falling into this trap as well. Asked by a journalist (ATS) about whether Pietersen will fit into the rank and file again after losing the captaincy, Strauss came out with this little nugget:

"I have no doubt that he will go to the West Indies and get millions of runs."

Now, clearly we are not meant to take this literally - i know. In a 5 match test series, KP would need to be scoring around 200,000 runs per match (just to match Straussy's figure). Not only that, but he would need to be hogging the strike the whole time. Strauss would also have to forget about declarations and, clearly, the prospect of trying to win any of the games played. Nevertheless, 5 draws would be a reasonable result.....FACT

The point i'm making here is that sportsmen of all creed and colour, when they try to be overly optimistic, are usually still reserved in their judgements. How often do you hear the phrase: "I'm going to give it 110%" banded around, despite being mathematically impossible. Even though you know it's a load of crap and doesn't make sense, you accept it. Why Strauss didn't say KP was going to score hundreds of runs is beyond me.

The question has to be, has the new Captain lost the plot with this kind of talk? The answer, on the evidence provided so far, has to be YES.

But I could be wrong.

Wickman Junior