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Anneka Rice might have done cricket a service after all since implying at a sponsorship launch at Lord's that she did not even like the game.

Damage seemed to have been done when the TV presenter representing the juice firm Outspan, one of the World Cup sponsors, at last month's media conference, said with a grimace that cricket was a ``dodgy game''.

However, Anneka enjoyed watching her first game so much - last week's Super Six game between Australia and India at the Oval - that she asked to see today's match there between Zimbabwe and Pakistan. And her enthusiasm was apparently not fired simply because some nearby India supporters chanted her name during their team's better moments.

Outspan chose Rice because market research had identified the biggest juice buyers to be mothers with young children, and they accepted that her media views on cricket were typical for many women. The ripples from the controversy actually helped.

An Outspan official said: ``She enjoyed the atmosphere at the Oval and the occasion, and she really took to the game. She was pleasantly surprised.'' The ECB, too, can breath a sigh of relief.

Henry Blofeld, the most recognisable voice not on radio at the moment, is recovering at home near Norwich after his narrow squeak on the operating table. 'Blowers' needed three heart by-pass operations, about 47 hours' surgery, and there was a crisis when his heart stopped and his lungs collapsed. ``One's lucky to be alive,'' he said.

The fund for Winston Davis, the former West Indies fast bowler who needs 24-hour care because of his paralysis, has shot past £20,000 as a result of the recent Viv Richards comeback match for the Bunbury XI in Northamptonshire. Hundreds of cheques for small amounts were also received when The Telegraph mentioned his plight a couple of weeks ago.

The Winston Davis Fund: c/o Melanie Henson, 28 Eastfield Crescent, Finedon, Northants NN9 5DJ.

Some old benches from Lord's - did we really watch cricket on those for a day? - are up for sale at the charming cricket art, photography and memorabilia exhibition at Nick Potter's basement gallery in Sackville Street, London.

The teak benches, white-painted or natural, can be bought for £345 each. An original Vanity Fair watercolour of the Victorian player Albert Hornby is on offer at £7,850, and an old Daily Telegraph bill poster, featuring E W Swanton, has added a certain gravitas to the exhibition at a very reasonable £275.

Prices were pushed up by bidding from Internet and Sky Television viewers during last week's Phillips memorabilia auction at Bayswater. It was no surprise that an 1864 Wisden Almanack, the first, was sold for an unprecendented £7,475.