Twelve memories of Sri Lanka
Instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas, I offer you my 12 top memories from producing Test Match Special over the past six weeks here in Sri Lanka.
1) The sight of groups of Buddhist monks clambering onto the roof of a nearby building to watch as Muttiah Muralitharan took his world record breaking wicket at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy.
I will, of course, be telling my grandchildren that I witnessed history, although to be honest at the exact moment when I was messing around in my kit bag trying to find an extra microphone for the lunchtime guest.
2) Matthew Hoggard leading the pack of England players as they searched for a snake discovered just beyond the boundary edge at the Colombo Cricket Club during England's opening warm-up match.
3) Finding out that Steve Harmison's entry into that same warm-up match was delayed because his favourite pair of bowling boots had gone missing in transit. Even if you are a top international cricketer, your luggage can still go awol. He certainly made the most of them once they arrived, producing some hostile spells during the Tests in Colombo and Galle.
4) The exceptionally helpful team working for and . You may imagine that radio and television are great rivals and wouldn't dream of helping each other, but that is far from the truth and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all the assistance they gave us throughout the tour.
5) The honours board located next to our commentary position in which marked the winners of "The Best Physique Contest" with a special prize awarded to the "Muscular Boy". The name JP Agnew appeared below in handwriting which looked suspiciously like that of Angus Fraser.
6) - a brilliant and prolific batsman who is wonderful to watch and one of the most helpful players to deal with off the field. I must also say that the England team and management were great to work with throughout the tour. The sight of Graeme Swann always smiling whenever he came onto the field, despite the obvious disappointment of not being selected to play his first Test, symbolised the excellent spirit in the squad.
7) Never getting tired of cracking the same joke - "Presumably you are about to give us a couple of verses of and - whenever our excellent Sri Lankan commentator Roshan Abeysinghe was about to broadcast (think about it !).
At least Roshan did not actually try singing on air unlike Simon Hughes. The "analyst" is a highly talented man, but I doubt we will see him performing on the next series of "The X Factor" after his never to be forgotten version of ".
8) Simon Hughes discovering that one of the prisoners who helped prepare the ground at Kandy was a huge fan of Jonathan Agnew's bowling - "I remember seeing him playing here....great bowler". The person who responded by suggesting that perhaps that was why he was locked up shall remain nameless.
9) The moment when comedy writer and actress Ruth Jones, who joined us for a "View from the Boundary" in Galle, discovered that Jonathan Agnew's cat had been named after her character Myfanwy in "Little Britain". She is of course in very good company following on from the Pekinese dog Aggers owns by the name of Hoggard.
10) Bees stopping play in Kandy. The amazing sight of players and umpires alike diving to the floor as a swarm of bees suddenly appeared in the middle of the pitch. A few cruel journalists suggested that it was England's first collapse of the tour.
11) The Galle Elephant. Our commentary position at allows a wonderful view over not only the famous Dutch fort, but also the road that circles around the edge of the ground. Henry Blofeld would love the constant mix of buses and tuk tuks but he would have been in raptures at the sight of a huge elephant standing perfectly still as it was transported on the back of a lorry. Mike Selvey immediately asked if it was a trunk road.
12) All that went before was put into context by the highly emotional interview Jonathan Agnew conducted with Charlie Pelham and Spencer Crawley, two of the Harrow cricketers who were preparing to play a match at the Galle stadium when the 2004 tsunami struck. It is difficult to comprehend what they went through that day and it is amazing how they and so many others have since been able to make positive contributions to improve the lives of those Sri Lankans that suffered from the disaster.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you who have listened over the past month or so, especially to those of you who have been with us hiding under the bedclothes in the early hours of the morning - just one more 3.55am alarm call for you and you can have a lie in ready for Christmas.
May I take this opportunity to wish all Test Match Special listeners a very merry Christmas and best wishes for 2008. And thank you to all of you who have written, e-mailed, texted or contributed to the TMS blog. I am sorry we can't get all of them mentioned on the programme, but we really appreciate you getting in touch.
If you're hungry for more cricket, don't worry because we are just a few weeks away from bringing you more live coverage from . TMS will have commentary on all the matches, the first of which takes place on the 2nd of February.
Seasons Greetings to you all,
Adam