Jesus played cricket?

So claims the Professor who currently holds the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Humanities. He points to a passage in the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy, translated into Armenian in the 6th century from a much older lost Syriac original which states:

He (Jesus) would take the boys to the seashore and, carrying the playing ball and the club, he would go over the waves of the sea as though he was playing on a frozen surface, hitting the playing ball. And watching him, the boys would scream and say: 'Watch the child Jesus, what he does over the waves of the sea!' Many would gather there and, watching him, would be amazed.

Ben on...Balls international

Another Cricinfo Daily has arrived with no mention of anything to do with New Zealand cricket. The long cold winter continues.

Perhaps I should do what Uncle JRod has done and head to the northern hemisphere. It seems fortunes are easily made there – JRod had been in England less than a day and already he has a job, as a blogger for The Wisden Cricketer!

Who knew that The Wisden Cricketer had a blog? I guess I had better add it to the blogroll. It's pretty dry stuff though. "Should Steve Harmison have an England future?" "Collingwood or Gallian? You decide..." JRod is like a dingo yapping amongst a pride of dozing lions. His Wisden posts are thoroughly watered-down compared to Cricket with Balls, but still have much more bite and are far more entertaining than the regular posters. "Why English Administrcrats should apologise to me," he brazenly blogs in only his second post.

He's already started offending the Brits. He called Michael Vaughn a kitten and got this response:

Vaughan was a very hard man on the field....I’ll judge Vaughan in that light and I’ll judge those taking cheap shots at him in that light too.

In fact, he's managed to offend me somewhat. JRod dropped a couple of his regular shticks into his first post, Natalie Portman and the insignificance of New Zealand. Out of context, the reference to Natalie Portman makes him seem just a little desperate (rather than like a stalker, as he does in Cricket with Balls). As for the belittling of NZ cricket, on Cricket with Balls the occasional jab in the ribs of NZ cricket fans and a laugh at our expense are one of the highlights of the blog. However, his jibe on Wisden was...well jeez JRod, it was mean!

Cricket is facing a major road-block if one of the major cricket nations, not one of the minnows like New Zealand, cannot be toured by people with a pale complexion.