Mr Obama is sometimes compared to Star Trek's emotionless and hyper-rational protagonist Mr Spock, and I can imagine him, hand gripped to the head of an alien humanoid of a startling orange hue.

BBC: Republicans resist Obama's Jedi mind meld

On the one hand we feel some sympathy for a young team who are battling in alien conditions and yet two Tests ago they beat Australia at Headingley.

BBC: Jonathan Agnew column