England's heavy, haunted hands

Whoever is driving the English Ashes ship is steering it towards a crash

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There is a road in England that people believe is haunted.

It’s in the Dartmoor area of Devon (a road unromantically named B3212) where some claim that hairy invisible hands can grip yours when you’re driving or riding a motorbike. They then crash you violently, trying to murder you.

The English press not only reported on this, but they were an active part in the myth-making.

Not sure how you can tell someone has hairy hands when they grip yours if they are invisible. Even in apes, hands are usually smooth on the gripping side. Also, how come you can feel the hands, but not the rest of the body? Are the two hairy invisible hands connected by a single arm?

Sometimes, it is hard to answer such questions.

Like, you may wonder how Australian batters can go on for 500 runs, with basically two sessions of the tail batting, and handle the conditions easily. But when England’s top order bat, they all suddenly have anvils for hands, and are desperate to be out caught and bowled.

The hairy hands of Devon have been debunked by many sceptics over the years. The heavy hands of England opened up the second Ashes Test for Australia.

The last time I checked, 55% of caught and bowleds were dropped. It is a fairly unlikely dismissal, and with seam bowlers, it is probably even more unlikely.

The most ever by a quick is Jimmy Anderson, with 12. Dale Steyn and Richard Hadlee have 11 and 10. Michael Neser is a similar sort of bowler to these three (if not anywhere near their league). He is another full outswing bowler who is a good athlete and fielder too.

But two caught and bowleds in one game is pretty unlikely, even for a player of this sort.

What is incredible is that Neser dropped one, so it could have actually been three.