You could rely on Andy Murray riding to your rescue – how we shall miss him

Of all the hypothetical questions to enliven hours of pub chat, a personal favourite in the betting lexicon is the get-out-of-jail card. Which jockey would you entrust with the last fiver in your wallet?

Do you plump for a rider of daring who wins races he has no right to? Or do you settle for the one who makes the fewest mistakes?

It is much the same with the question relating to the greatest goal-scorer in football history. Do you prefer the player with a back-catalogue of spectacular strikes to one whose innate reading of the game sees him tap in from six yards with metronomic frequency?