Abbasi and Khan's analysis of the effects of Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad's dramatic match-winning six off the last ball in a one day match that his side had looked like losing to India until that delivery, resulted in an unusually high number of responses.1 Most of the more than 70 correspondents were united that the paper was entirely misplaced in a medical journal and should have encountered the same fate as most other submitted manuscripts.
Some even argued that it showed “laddishness” at the BMJ. Others additionally criticised the chosen statistical analysis as unsuitable or pointed out the lack of confounders.
Cricket fans engaged in mostly humorous, but none the less detailed, descriptions and discussions about the various merits of India's and Pakistan's teams, the achievements of individual players, and the potentially tremendous benefits of various kinds of large scale sporting events for the health (or psyche) of a nation.
Competing interests: BT grew up in Germany, a country not known for its cricketing talent. She therefore has not a clue what most correspondents are talking about but remains fascinated by the terminology.
References
- 1.Electronic responses. India versus Pakistan and the power of a six. bmj.com 2004. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/328/7443/800 (accessed 24 May.)