There are few things in life quite as enjoyable as being the smug focus of a collective exclamation and an audible intake of breath. "You did what?" I was asked by a couple of incredulous friends when I explained where and how I had spent the day as stock markets across the globe underwent their greatest single day correction in recent times.

Their faces were a picture, for while share prices plunged and markets were pummelled, I was the guest of a company that takes a box at the Oval during Test matches.

That's right - as headline writers prepared their darkest Black Friday' fonts, I was watching India's batsmen ripping England apart with the same level of intensity with which the sub-prime mortgage crisis appeared to be destroying equity values.

Naturally, I was concerned the following day when I read that panicking investors' had caused the stock market carnage, but not unduly so, as I had half expected it to happen.

A few weeks before the FTSE100 suffered its worst day in seven years, I had pointed out that the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the world's most prestigious financial organisation, had suggested years of loose monetary policy had fuelled a potentially dangerous credit bubble.

Surely, I reasoned, it was only a matter of time before easy lending would end and, as I've frequently suggested, it was bankers, not investors, who would panic as their respective loan books went pear-shaped.

The sharp-suited, cool-as-ice image we have of City traders is actually further from the truth than many people would imagine. To date, there is little evidence to suggest private investors have led a charge for the door as markets plummet.

In fact, the majority of selling would appear to have emanated from worried City-based fund managers desperate to meet redemption demands.

There are, however, a number of investors who believe their only genuinely safe haven is cash, because it puts them in a marvellous position to pick up equity bargains when the market recovers.

This is not to be blasé about the meltdown in the US sub-prime mortgage market, as it could conceivably trigger much lower consumer spending - when American households start cutting back, the implications for the world economy can be bleak.

Nonetheless, when markets hit periodic highs, they have an uneasy tendency to slip back, as an examination of the bull market which ran from 1987 to 2000 would confirm.

Investors who experienced the bear market which began at the turn of the century will recall that today's situation is markedly different.

Seven years ago, stock prices appeared bloated as average price-earnings ratios careered well beyond their historic norms.

By contrast, today's average p/e ratios are not only significantly lower than 2000, but much lower than at the nadir of the last bear market in 2003.

In other words, improved company earnings have resulted in higher share prices, although on an historic basis, equities are not expensive.

Having taken heed of the BIS's warnings, I liquidated the majority of my short-term trading positions and opted for cash's warm embrace, which ensured that instead of worrying as markets staggered, I had the pleasure of watching three great innings from Messrs Tendulkar, Dhoni and Kumble.

Ironically, the only domino effect I encountered was in the form of an unusual gift box containing wooden dominoes handed to Oval guests as they had lunch.

If I was meant to read something into that, I have to say it went right over my head.