As Mike Yardy and Ed Joyce were rebuilding Sussex’s innings in their second match of the Champions League at Delhi – pushing, nurdling, shoving like the workman they needed to be, it was very easy for the mind and the eye to wander to the cheerleaders who decorate the ground and inspire the crowd.

It is the usual cheerleading stuff – pom-pom waving, legs kicking, hips waggling and shaking – and everyone loves it. They leap onto their podiums at any opportunity: wicket, run, between overs, as the batsman is re-marking his guard and keep everyone alive and moving.

The spectators throng to the spots in front of the dancers giving a strange, striped pattern to the spectacle – thick with people then empty plastic seats then thick with people. In fact, there are three things that attract the crowd – dancers, television cameras and Sussex fans.

Anyway, the highlight of the cheerleading show is as the girls are leaving their stage, one will linger behind alone. She’ll start whooping, bouncing, kicking and waving as the crowd build with anticipation before she delivers her showpiece – a backflip or cartwheel, a show-pony leg-kick or a huge mid-air splits in a skirt far too short for the purpose. Cue mass hysteria.

Next ball, Mike Yardy misses a straight one and is bowled – Sussex slump to 75 for 5.

Edward Craig is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer