Quote:If you’ll allow a little generosity in the matter of pluralisation, they were not the first Cook and Moore(s) to come out and put on a brave face for the sake of the cameras.

In Pete and Dud’s case, at least they had the freedom relentlessly to abuse one another then claim it was part of the act. Watch the final live recordings of the Derek and Clive tapes now, and its undeniable that personal venom has set in somewhere around the 400th time each has “jovially” sworn at each other using the foulest phrases possible.

But for Peter and Alastair – or “Mooresy” and “Cooky”, as they relentlessly referred to one another during their joint 15-minute press conference before flying off to the West Indies to make some sort of attempt at rebuilding the obliterated reputation of English cricket – this was the perfect show of stage-managed friendship.