SIR - Some of your readers will have been immersed in cricket over a number of years and so the names of Bill Lawry and Geoffrey Boycott will ring an immediate bell.

Both Boycott and Lawry were opening batsmen of a distinctly obdurate nature. They saw their job as a mixture of 'not to get out' and 'to see the shine off the ball'. Runs might come slowly and the immediate entertainment level was low, but both stuck doggedly to their appointed task.

The new government's opening batsmen (Starmer and Reeves) seem to be cut from similar cloth. The result of July 4 was a triumph, but there appears to be no time for sumptuous political cover drives or the finest of late cuts.

Our PM and Chancellor are serving us up dogged defence and the occasional flick down to fine leg for a single. They keep their wicket intact, but it is not riveting stuff.

By contrast the Liberal Democrats seem to be today's most joyous party. Sir Ed Davey gave us stunts as part of his election campaign, but each stunt had a purpose. He and his party have (to an extent) captured the public's attention. Has Sir Ed invented 'political Bazball' ?

John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon