Violence and kindness in Scarborough

How about this for great police work?

On the outskirts of Scarborough I pulled into a petrol station behind a police van. I always get lost in Scarborough so asked a policemen for directions to the hotel. The constable - a big unit, 6ft4 and full of muscle - took loads of trouble to give me detailed directions. Far too detailed, in fact, because I must have looked confused.

"Actually," he said, "we're going to an incident near there so we'll lead you straight there."

And they did, bless'em, through dark, winding, seagull dropping-stained streets right to the hotel.

Before I could move on, the incident became clear: a gang of blokes, beered-up and not in a nice way. Two coppers got out of the van and one paused to point me to the car-park round to the left. I thanked him effusively and he gave me a cheery thumbs up - then strode over to sort out the violence.

I turned left, found the car park full, turned left again and left again and, two minutes later, ended up back where I had been. The incident appeared over with the culprit(s) subdued and placed in the van. One of the officers saw my car loom up again - and broke off again from dealing with the violent disorder to suggest a second possible parking location.

What a star. Courage and courtesy at the same time.

Seagulls a bit lively already.

I fancy Carter to shine over the next four days.

But what will we get from Sreesanth?