Andy Zaltzman’s Number Palace!
Zero days of cricket were played in the fifth Test between England and India at Old Trafford in September. By fortuitous coincidence, this number exactly matched both the total of satisfactory explanations offered for why the match had been catapulted into covidious oblivion, and the score out of 10 that the series received in its end-of-summer report in the Narratively Satisfactory Conclusion category.
England’s T20 tour of Pakistan will also feature zero ballsworth of cricket, another neat numerical snap with the number of good reasons for postponing a long-awaited trip to a country which had itself pulled out of zero of their two visits to England in the virus-violated years of 2020 and 2021.