G'day all....

Here is where I ask for your views, instead of pushing mine down your throat. The Rediff diary has run into a bit of a problem. I need to find solutions -- and I figured that with a few thousand of you out there, reading this, that's a lot of brain power I can draw on.

Briefly, the Cricket section is the most highly accessed within the Rediff umbrella. And within cricket, the match reports, live commentary, and the columns (especially Harsha's and mine) are the most accessed.

The Rediff Email Diary, meanwhile, was conceived as a platform for us at Rediff editorial to take note of, and comment on, matters relating to international cricket, stories appearing elsewhere on the web, trivia, fun, etc. In other words, a chatty daily diary, with a more diffuse focus than has been the case thus far.

However, one way or the other, each time I sat down to write this diary, there was some major story breaking on Indian cricket, which meant that I ended up writing about the news of the day. To then repeat the same thing on the column space would be pointless -- so over time, the email diary began to substitute for, instead of supplement, the column.

In the process, readers who do not subscribe to the email diary for whatever reason have begun to feel short-changed -- and here, it merits mentioning that the number of registrations for the diary are, as of date, almost exactly one third of the number of people who read the last match report, of the Ahmedabad ODI.

The spate of letters from readers complaining that they are missing out in turn sparked an internal review here, and the consensus was that the column needs to go back on the home page.

But then, what of the diary? It is in this connection that I would appreciate feedback, ideas, your thoughts. Assuming that the analytical comment you have been getting in mail thus far were to shift to the regular home page -- what kind of content would you then like to see delivered direct to mailbox?

What, in other words, would you define as an interesting email diary?

Do let me know your thoughts, on premp@rediff.co.in

Meanwhile, have a lovely, long, weekend -- the diary resumes on Monday.

Regards

Prem

Mail Cricket Editor