England’s triumphant cricketers have helped to provide an answer to the age-old question: “Is it art?” They can only hope that if the answer is no then people will know what they like.

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The truth is that the players can probably get away with anything at present having gone 2-0 up in the Ashes. It should ensure a good price for the sketches that the players have drawn of each other for Cricket United, a joint fund-raising appeal by three of the game's charities, the Lord's Taverners, Chance to Shine and the PCA Benevolent Fund.

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The drawings by both the men’s and women’s teams, a selection of which can be seen by clicking here, are being auctioned on ebay between now and 4 August. Potential bidders should go to: http://bit.ly/Englandportraits.

Joe Root, an artist with the bat, has also shown himself to be a dab hand with the brush, putting his A level art to good use with decent resemblances of Ian Bell and Monty Panesar. Good friends, Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson have opted for a mutual comic effect in their sketches of each other. The England captain, Alastair Cook, said: “It’s a bit of fun and the lads enjoyed doing something completely different for charity. Rest assured, we won’t be giving up our day jobs, but we’d urge all cricket fans to support the Cricket United appeal.”