THE human body is indeed a miracle; robots can operate via logic and algebra but only humans have the ability to make a decision based on valued judgment, the very same sort of judgement a house buyer would make on buying a house next to a cricket ground.

If the buyer disliked the thwack of leather on willow, ripples of restrained applause, the odd profanity or, indeed, the game itself it is likely they would decide to buy a house elsewhere.

The house buyers next to Darlington Cricket Club who have objected to the club using their own facilities to practice seem to be lacking in the matter of observation and judgement especially as the club has been playing cricket on that ground since the 1860s.

I have witnessed this sort of intolerance some years ago at a cricket match at Bill Quay where a ball was struck into the garden of a new house on the boundary.

The ball was returned but only after it had been bisected by a power saw, a premeditated act of spite.

V J Connor, Bishop Auckland