John Walsh: We need to think about Kevin O'Brien

Watching Kevin O'Brien wallop England's bowlers all over Bangalore on Wednesday, what went through England captain Andrew Strauss's mind? Was he thinking, "How can an unknown Mick come from nowhere to upset the might of England?" It's unlikely.

O'Brien made his debut when Ireland played their first one-day international against England in 2006. O'Brien went in to bowl first, and took a wicket with his first delivery. The batsman was caught at square leg for a duck. His name? A.J. Strauss.

* The perils of success are illustrated by Elton John in Saga magazine. Last autumn, he linked up with the piano star Leon Russell, who has dipped below the rock'n'roll radar for a while. Their album, The Union, was released to rapturous reviews and good sales. But when two enormous cheques arrived from Russell's music publisher, the bank froze his assets. "They thought it was terrorist money," laughs Elton. "He hasn't had that much in his bank account for years." Enough to give anyone the serious blues.

* Voina, the Russian radical art collective responsible for some blinding public stunts in the last two years, have softened their tactics. Last September, they overturned seven police cars in St Petersburg, with officers still inside. Now they have taken to approaching policewomen on the Moscow Metro, asking them questions, then kissing them on the mouth. I forget the protest rationale. Our street-art superstar Banksy is a fan of the collective and stood bail for them for £10,000. Can we look forward to art-activist shenanigans around, say, Tate Modern?

* Charlie Sheen has been mouthing off online about his marital troubles and bragging about being addicted to "a drug called Charlie Sheen". On Tuesday he opened a Twitter account and scored a million followers. Among them was a Georgia bishop who wrote: "My Dear Brother in 'Christ' Charlie Sheen, You are playing right into 'Satan' hands. You have the power to defeat him through calling on your 'Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' Their is power in his name." Inverted commas and misspellings apart, can the bish really believe an appeal to Christian restraint is the way to stop Mr Sheen in his tracks?