Nel’s dinner date for Cook

It was the strangest dinner appointment even if it was one made between former county mates. There is perhaps no fiercer adversary on the field than the South African fast bowler Andre Nel who also lets the batsmen know it. And Cook, who had dreaded getting out to him, had to face just that ignominy in the third Test. Whether the invitation extended to 'Gunther', the comic book alter ego about whom Nel spoke a lot on tour, is not known. Even by his exuberatn standards, Nel's celebration on getting Cook out was way beyond normal. But, as the man himself explained, "Maybe I celebrated too much, but we're going out to dinner, so we'll have a few beers." A free reign to 'Gunther', the oxygen-starved figure of fiction, was very active when Nel bowled with fire in the Test.