It’s a washout for England’s cricket pundits

Plus, predictions for England's cricketing hopes

Michael Clarke and James Anderson (Getty Images)

As England’s cricketers prepare to defend their honour in the Melbourne test, many of the tour party will be wondering whether their careers can escape the media backlash over losing the Ashes.

But how many pundits will be offering up their resignations after a hopeless failure to predict the Australian resurgence?

Let’s remind ourselves that Sky’s Nasser Hussain went for 3-1 to England, as did David Gower, “Bumble” Lloyd called it 2-0 to Alastair Cook’s team, while Mike Atherton and Bob Willis both said 2-1 to England. Inevitably, “Beefy” Botham predicted a 5-0 England whitewash.

Telegraph analyst Simon Hughes went for 3-1 England, and The Guardian’s Mike Selvey said England would narrowly retain the Ashes.

When creatives turn to art

One of the real eccentric creatives of British advertising, Graham Fink, is going into the art world – but not as a collector like Charles Saatchi.

“Finky”, who once landed a job by turning up at the interview disguised as a very old man and who is best known for the British Airways “Face” campaign and slogans such as “Ariston and on”, is showing his own art in an exhibition, which opens on 9 January at the Riflemaker gallery in London’s Beak Street.

It’s called Nomads, which seems a suitable title for someone who flies around Asia as the chief creative officer for Ogilvy China (a role he will retain). The exhibition features 12 photographs printed onto “the purest whitest marble on earth”, taken from the quarries on the Greek island of Paros which provided the raw material for the Venus de Milo statue.

“I am very excited about following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol and making the crossover from advertising into art,” says the former creative chief of M&C Saatchi.