Ian Blackwell, the cult

A really interesting article in today's Independant about Ian Blackwell. He's competing with Monty Panesar for a place in England's lineup for the first Test; if anyone doesn't know about Blackwell, he's not what you might describe as an average sportsman. He's larger, rounder and altogether more like the rest of us, as Stephen Brenkley explores.

Size, weight and attitude to one side, he hits the ball thunderously hard; a journalist once described him as a "bull in a china shop," which is perfectly apt, not only for the manner with which he hits a ball, but his overall demeanour.

BSuch is the obsession with professionalism these days, he doesn't quite fit into Duncan Fletcher's ideal. Fletcher's all "keep 'em lean, treat 'em mean," as Blackwell conceded:

"My eye and natural ability had got me so far," he said. "Then you come up and see the Fletcher regime and if you don't comply you're quickly out.

If anything, his inclusion in the tour to India only highlights his talent even more. Anyway, read Brenkley's article. It's rather good and very interesting, including gems such as:

The trouble with Blackwell, the big trouble with Blackwell it might be said, is his size. He simply does not fit the idea, still less the ideal, of the modern professional sportsman. In the field and at the crease, he looks, well not to put too fine a point on the issue, he looks fat. This is his strength as well as his weakness, of course. It makes him one of us, and the fact that his shirt flops out of his trousers as soon as he tucks it in only increases the sense of identification.

Will Luke writes for Cricinfo.com and edits The Corridor of Uncertainty