You may think cricket and poker make strange bed fellows especially if you have never played or watched cricket before; a number of people enjoy both disciplines.

I could make loose references to patient play and aggression being used in the right measures and circumstances, but I’m not going to ‘hard sell’ my other interest.

Simply, both are long term games and I take pleasure in them equally and frequently comment on England's fortune in my weekly blog.

Well known cricketers have taken to poker as a pastime or semi-profession during or at the end of their cricketing careers.

Most famous is the Australian, Shane Warne, who is considered a master in the cricket world. Warne still admits the need to learn much about poker and says, "it is a game of skill that has a lot of analogies to cricket. You have to be very, very disciplined." When playing cricket for Hampshire, Warne did not only exercise an influence on the cricket pitch as his fellow county player, (Adrian) Dimitri Mascarenhas, has taken a seat at some televised poker events.

Alongside him at the poker table are several other English cricketers; Ed Giddins is an established player at major UK events and has added his wisdom to the Sky Poker team.

Gladstone Small has made appearances in several celebrity events, while Phil Tufnell has commentated on a few poker programs and has released his own video available in the Know-poker UK and Europe online store.

To stay in touch with the latest cricket news and scores, Cricinfo offers comprehensive coverage. If you have a spare five minutes, I’ve added a link to a fun online cricket game.