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It seemed appropriate that one of the most surreal cricket anecdotes of the year should come straight from the mouth of the boy-wizard Harry Potter - or at least from Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays J.K. Rowling's cult literary creation in the five films made to date.

A couple of weeks after he was spotted asking Shane Warne to sign his copy of Wisden at the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Radcliffe spent his 18th birthday soaking up his first day's live Test cricket at Lord's, where England's attempts to take India's last wicket were thwarted by the rain. In an interview with the BBC's Jonathan Agnew, Radcliffe revealed the contents of a dream in which he was pursued by Andrew Strauss.

“I remember him chasing me with a cricket bat and I mentioned this in an interview,” Radcliffe said. “It was during the West Indies series when he wasn't in the greatest of form. I heard this Australian voice saying, ‘Don't worry, mate, he wouldn't be able to hit you if he did catch you,' which wasn't the most generous of comments.”

Radcliffe also explained how both Strauss and Sachin Tendulkar had failed to recognise him as he queued for their autograph. “They were doing the thing that I do, which is to just keep your head down and keep moving as you sign,” he said. Once Strauss realised what had happened, he sent one of the Potter books to the TMS box for Radcliffe to sign as a present for his young son, Sam.

Radcliffe was a latecomer to the game, falling for it after Paul Collingwood made a double-century at Adelaide and let out a roar that was “quite primeval and scary in a way”. Radcliffe said he was a fan of Twenty20 cricket and followed Leicestershire because of Paul Nixon. “I love the fact it's a very specific sport,” he added. “I enjoy the pedantry.”

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