It seems that despite the packed schedule, Duckworth Lewis Method might not be a one-album thing, though Walsh’s ambigious gesture and semi-serious comment in response to our quizzing (‘It’s coming, there it is over there’) is a touch non-committal. It it does arrive, a new album certainly won’t veer away from cricket: ‘The name pretty much prohibits us writing about anything else’, Hannon argues, ‘though it could be about complete surreality’. At this point Walsh quietens the Divine Comedy man: ‘You’re giving it away there Neil’. Given that the brilliantly surreal -Jiggery Pokery’ is a song about around five seconds of cricket (admittedly a fairly famous five seconds), the potential for new material is ample to say the least, and they’ll have a new Ashes series to help. Judging by the guarded smiles passing between the two, we’re optimistic to say the least.

With this particular pair, being in the least bit guarded seems unnatural. In interview, you’re only ever thirty seconds from the most random of conversations. Losing concentration for a few seconds after a day of questions, Hannon zones back in to find Walsh discussing the possibility of turning the London Eye into a bridge. That, in turn, somehow leads into a French game that involves chucking huge steel balls down a road, but is not boules. We’re confused, but the sparkles of creativity are obvious, as is the inarguable edge of charisma that led to actually producing an album on what must be one of the world’s least sung-about subjects (even lobotomies feature heavily on a number of punk albums’¦). In another moment or pure “surreality”, Walsh follows our questions on ‘Jiggery Pokery’ by informing us ‘I once had sex in seven seconds. Well it might have been eight, but I think it was seven seconds. Plenty of people write songs about that. It’s more than enough material’. Indeed.

The return of Duckworth Lewis Method this summer is odd timing in some ways. With Bang Goes The Knighthood less than two months old, Hannon still finds himself performing at the Olympia under his other guise. ‘This always was a summer project,’ he explains, ‘it’s like having a holiday home. But it is exhausting. It’s not really a side project anymore. If Duckworth Lewis became the next U2 and The Divine Comedy became a side project I’d be fine with that. You don’t really think in those terms anyway. You just kind of do what -it’ wants you to do. If we were offered one hundred thousand Australian Dollars to play there, we’d do it’. Given the Australian’s love of cricket, it might be only the volume of cash that’s missing.

Hannon and Walsh do have their memorabilia, though: ‘We do have a lovely letter from Duckworth and Lewis somewhere. It was very nice, especially as we didn’t actually ask to use their names. We thought they might be a bit upset and hunt us down. We’d be more scared of Duckworth really, he’s the angry looking one. No, they were lovely. They do a lot of after dinner speaking about “the method”, the mathematical method that it is. We’d love that. I’m sure they put an interesting spin on it, if you’ll pardon the pun.’ Puns are clearly part of Hannon’s lifestyle: ‘When the first incarnation of The Divine Comedy broke up, I seriously considered calling myself -Armitage Shanks” he throws in. Right.

For all their joking, this is about music not cricket. Hannon describes the sport as ‘a waste of time that I love’, while Walsh argues ‘I could as soon leave it off as turn it on, though I am obsessed with the 20-20′. We’d be more convinced if the following five minutes didn’t revolve around Ireland as a test match nation, the woes of the Bangladeshi side and a brief aside into Liverpool’s recent signing of Joe Cole: Duckworth Lewis Method are obsessed with the intricacies of this highly un-Irish sport. How else would they squeeze in lines as imaginative as -Robbery muggery Aussie skulduggery out for a buggering duck’ into their lyrics? Now, about Shane Warne’¦

Duckworth Lewis Method play the Olympia Theatre on Wednesday July 28th.

Read Hilary White’s recent interview with Neil Hannon here.

Photoshoot by James Goulden.