The Surfer

We had India and Australia at Eden Gardens, in the series India won 2-1, and Laxman scored 281. It was the 4th day where Laxman and Dravid played for the whole day. You can go back to the video evidence, there was only one man who took them drinks and water and gloves the entire day. That was me. Laxman and Dravid insisted that only I come in every time. I would bring in water, gloves or banana or whatever they wanted. I was the only one to bring it, they asked no one else to come inside. The entire day. I was the only man to help them out. I actually felt a part of the partnership that day.

I was told by Dravid, more than Laxman, "Tu hi aana, aur kisi ko bhejna mat", which means 'only you come, don't send in anybody else". I kept running in, it didn't matter to me, there was no hard work in it. It was just one of the things cricketers do. It feels nice to be the someone that they wanted to be there and find some comfort levels that they were okay with.

New Zealand are easily outgunned by England in terms of resources and depth of talent. Moreover they have squandered some of their assets recently. Following England's lead they contrived to have their best player watching from the sidelines for a while this winter. Ross Taylor is New Zealand's best batsman; he may end up as one of their best ever but he was not in South Africa - and he had not even sent anyone a dodgy text. Taylor's absence stemmed from a more conventional cock-up - much bungling over captaincy issues, which understandably alienated him.

This West Indies squad ventures onto Australia territory with more belief than for over a decade; whether this can be converted into results is debatable. Their position in the ICC rankings remains four places and 25 points short of Australia's. Their most recent 3-2 loss to Bangladesh (two places and ten points below them) exposed their continuing inconsistency.

Given the trouncings they have received in Australia of late, just a competitive performance would be a welcome advance. An overall series success might be carrying it a bit too far; if somehow achieved it would rank not far behind the World Twenty20 victory in Sri Lanka last October in the long-term scheme of things. Far more realistically, it presents the selectors with an early opportunity to assess the strongest candidates for the build-up to the World Cup three years hence, the next assignment Down Under.

Long Days, Late Nights (1984), a miscellany of Keating's articles from the Guardian and Punch (he also wrote extensively for the Spectator, New Statesman and Oldie), carried a foreword by Arlott, who remarked how an earlier book, Another Bloody Day in Paradise (1981), an account of the 1980-81 MCC tour of the West Indies, was one of the most admired by players. Keating's boyish enthusiasm was so well carried into maturity that men of both sides offered serious confidences.

''There was a lot of unrest and bombings, and setting things alight, and that was happening five kilometres from my house. But we were growing up in this leafy suburb with white picket fences and everything was great.

''Life was fantastic because we just didn't know what was going on. We had servants who worked for us who were fantastic people. We looked after them, they were one of the family and they lived on the property. But they couldn't walk outside on the streets at night after seven o'clock without a pass. That was just the norm,'' he says.

This morning on BBC TV they were going on about why there are not so many girls doing PE and I'm there thinking, 'Because you don't bloody show any women's sport!' I'm going to ring them up tomorrow if they don't put any women sports on! They show football, horse racing - anything you can bet on or that's man-orientated. When we toured in 1968 and 1969, they wouldn't go on about the technique or skills of the women. There was a headline: "Skipper Loses Lucky Bra!" Nothing to do with the cricket!

As innovative in form as it is in content, Beyond a Boundary is uncategorisable, a blend of memoir, history, theory, journalism, political manifesto. For all its diversity, it has what many of today's hybrid texts lack: a commanding intelligence and a distinctive voice, dry, purposeful, thrillingly and theatrically didactic. The book is all of a piece and would be diminished by the loss of any of its component parts.

A maximum of only four fielders are now permitted on the boundary in one-day internationals. Only three are allowed in the batting powerplay, which invariably precedes the final 10 overs of the innings. So, for the last 15 overs of the innings you can predict at least two boundaries an over. Add a single every other ball to the mix and realistically the minimum you can expect to concede in that final third is 150 runs.

I think as a batsman he will go on to set records that no one will ever beat. Cook will go down as England's greatest player ever in my opinion. It's a big call, but knowing him as I do I believe that's what he will achieve. He will look at it now and think people's expectations are unrealistic because they expect him to keep on doing it ad nauseam forever and actually every time you bat for England it's difficult, and hard, and you'll go through periods of bad form. But injuries apart, I've seen enough of him to know that he'll come through all of those things.