How often in cricket do you have the time to just look out the window, admire the view, not worry about the shambles down there on the field? Those moments are few and far between, unless it's a rain break, in which case there's no better vantage point than by the pavilion windows at the Arundel cricket ground. Rumour has it it's what helped South Africa captain Temba Bavuma plan his match-winning strategy for the WTC final, as he watched rain wash away his side's warm-up against Zimbabwe.
Windows are everywhere in cricket - except on the FTP - but few are more coveted than the ones in the flats that overlook The Oval. In 1976, as a workers' strike rippled across London, it left some people with a lot of time to watch the cricket, if not a lot of money. That called for some out of the window-box solutions.
But every homeowner who has ever lived by a ground, maidan or stadium has had an unwelcome guest - the stray six that has found its way into the house via the window, like the horrified Hove resident in the photo below.
But it's all about how you frame it: it could also offer you a different perspective of the match.
Of course, break a window with a six during a match and you make it into the match report.
Then there are times when it's the window doing the offending. During an England-Pakistan Test at Old Trafford, play was briefly held up by the sun glinting off an open window.
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In 2011, Matt Prior's moment of pique at being run-out triggered a series of unfortunate events that ended in a broken window at Lord's and minor injuries to a spectator.
Remember the Sandpapergate drama? So do England, and they weren't about to let Australia forget it, even five years later, during the fractious 2023 Ashes. When Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, went to ring the bell at Old Trafford to signal the start of the fourth Test, someone helpfully propped up a crying Steven Smith mask in the background to remind Australia of the consequences should they lose. But they didn't, so Smith had the last laugh.
You know how they say eyes are the windows to the soul? Sometimes it works the other way around too, when the players convicted of spot-fixing found out as they left for prison in London in 2011.
If you're walking around Fitzrovia, stop for a pint at the Champion Public House, where you quaff an ale in the Technicolor company of WG Grace. The pub features stained-glass windows of Victorian legends designed by artist Ann Sotheran. Boxer Bob Fitzsimmons and explorer David Livingstone, among many others, are thus honoured in the pub.
And sometimes, the view is less interesting than the reflection.
