England’s Joe Denly just recently twisted his knee before the second ODI against Australia whilst playing football in a practice session. Now he comes from a nation that supposedly invented the sport. Yes, something else the English invented but are now rubbish at. Not only that, Denly actually had professional trials as a youngster but gave up after getting “shoved about a bit”. Do not be surprised if he retires from cricket in the near future. He sustained his injury after a challenge from the Karachi born Owais Shah.

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, is a big fan of football too and will be Pakistan’s ambassador at next year’s football World Cup in South Africa. From the picture below, I’d advise Younis to stick to his ambassadorial role only. Here we see him in not the most graceful of positions and had the ankle sprain fairy been around, it would have quite happily seized its moment. As Umar Gul prances along with his two inch high Nikes, I’m surprised neither came out with some sort of strain, although this may have been due to the fact that Owais Shah was nowhere in the vicinity.

The ECB has now banned cricket as an exercise, a reaction which may seem a bit over the top if you simply analyse the two photos here which have a common theme. They involve players born in Pakistan I hear you say? No, the common theme is the type of footwear they are playing in. Playing football in cricket shoes is an ankle/knee sprain waiting to happen due to the thickness of the soles and the catching effect of the small spikes. Cricketers, if you want to be cool and play the only true global sport then at least do it using the proper footwear.

Just for the record, Pakistan’s football coach George Kottan, was so impressed by the footballing talent on show when he visited the Pakistan cricketers at a training camp, he said that four or five of them were ‘excellent’ footballers. So, we may have not invented the sport but we will soon be better at it than you, just like in cricket.

As for the ECB, they will now decide between either kiss-chase or hide and seek as warm up. I know the Australians play Aussie rules in their practice session but do not have a clue about what any of the other nations choose but I’m sure their fans will enlighten us.