arbit.. but well.. who cares..

X, who died this week (and therefore in a sense became Ex ), said in his last interview that he thought cricket was better than sex.

“I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that god created on earth - certainly greater than sex, although sex isn't too bad either,” he said in the interview, published by London's Guardian newspaper this weekend.

Cricket was the subject of the interview, given to the Guardian in October amid failing health.


What attracted X to cricket was the game's inherent drama - the game within the game.

“Drama happens in big cricket matches. But also in small cricket matches.

“When we play, my club, each thing that happens is dramatic: the gasps that follow a miss at slip, the anger of an lbw decision that is turned down. It is the same thing wherever you play, really.”

X was captain of a wandering cricket club from London called the Gaieties and had played the game from childhood.

His house was full of cricket memorabilia, including a framed copy of WG Grace's autograph.

X, a lifelong admirer of great England batsman Len Hutton, said: “cricket, the whole thing, playing, watching, being part of the Gaieties, has been a central feature of my life