They were ruthless with the bat, canny with the ball and energetic in the field to the delight of an exuberant crowd on a damp and chilly evening in Birmingham.
Lauren Collins, in her excellent recent article on Djokovic, implied that admiration for Federer reflected a kind of country clubber's conservatism, but really the country-club game is small ball, all canny slices and lobs, not power, grace, or even movement.
Often visiting pacemen excited by the carry would bowl too short and the canny batsmen would leave the ball as much on length as line.
Only Mike Hussey looked comfortable in the middle as he expertly kept the scoreboard ticking over with his canny ability to work the ball into space for ones and twos.
If Mr Balls is as canny as I think he is, though, he will turn down the job (perhaps suggesting it goes to his wife Yvette Cooper, who many think should have also run for the top job).
And yet, if I posted a video clip of myself doing some canny defending, using my body to shield a ball from an imaginary opponent in order to let it run out of play for a goal kick, I would be considered total weirdo.
That, say the canny economists huddled backstage at the rally, puts the ball in the court of ECB boss Mario Draghi.
Yet Charley Byrne, the canny and free-spending owner of the Brooklyn Base Ball Club, seems more deserving both of credit for his squad's success and for the Hall of Fame membership Shafer so desires for McGunnigle.
67 min: That's canny defending from Gallas, who simply ushered Marin off the ball after he had nicked it away from Hutton.
