The Surfer

Munro can play. Even if he only showed it at Twenty20 level until this season. One shot doesn't make a summer, but television viewers might recall Munro's visit to Westpac Stadium one chilly Friday night in November. He sent a Scott Kuggeleijn delivery on to the eastern roof, possibly the biggest six seen at the ground.

Once again, as India rebuilds, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan or Zaheer don't really figure in captaincy debates. With names like Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli thrown up, the selectors seem to have moved on. The in-betweeners would have been ideal for the top job, courtesy their experience of witnessing a generational shift. But here they are, again busy fighting their own battles against form and fitness. This doesn't mean history won't acknowledge their contribution. But they will be remembered as soldiers with a chestful of medals, not the path-breaking generals that they could have been.

It was a quite extraordinary statement from Buchanan. He has effectively said there is a culture of suspicion, lying and unaccountability within the Black Caps and New Zealand cricket. And yet we still await a response to Buchanan's devastating allegations.

Taylor could be excused for taking some satisfaction from the first-test debacle. But, on reflection, he must realise that the Black Caps need him more now than at any time during his test career. Answering the call would simultaneously lift his stocks to the highest level and underline the extent of Hesson's misjudgment.

But it actually makes no sense, partly because it assumes that BBL fans care what I think, which I very much doubt they do, and partly because it assumes that everyone who attends a BBL walks away with a positive experience, which they don't. Because in the latter case, wouldn't I then be 'chastising' these people if I wrote something gushing about how great everything is? Here's the thing: I have no duty to write positively or negatively about anything because people like it or don't. I say my piece; you can agree or disagree. It's called journalism.

Without Greig this summer's telecast has contained almost entirely Australian accents, anchor Mark Nicholas the notable exception. The majority of these are teammates from the recent golden era of the game in this country, with an increasing proportion drawn from a single state side of that vintage ...

... A select few influential figures don't like the Big Bash, therefore the competition is illegitimate to readers of major newspapers, despite what the gate or Pay TV figures indicate. The throng of ex-players near microphones don't agree with rotation, so as viewers we are led to conclude the practice is fundamentally wrong, despite its widespread implementation in most sports and in most other successful cricketing countries. All the while these assumptions are percolating into public consciousness all-but unchallenged.

It suited Cricket Australia and the Stars nicely for Warne to pump himself and the fledgling Big Bash League up on demand. Indeed, CA, the Stars and Fox Sports pay Warne, handsomely, to do just that, even if on that occasion it made Nathan Lyon's quest for credibility as the incumbent Test spinner more difficult than it already was.

Even Warne's comments while wired up for Fox Sports and bowling to George Bailey, which conveyed Warne's thinly disguised contempt for the Tasmanian's promotion to the position of national Twenty20 captain, could be dismissed as ''typical Warnie''. But with his final, outrageous outburst at Marlon Samuels on Sunday night, Warne has trashed his own reputation and piddled on the league that enabled his highly paid comeback. Thank goodness Australian cricket officials had the sense not to make him Test captain.

On Monday, Shami returned home to a hero's welcome. Doubts about his cricketing skills and anonymity faded after the foggy evening at the Kotla. Sehazpur Ali Nagar couldn't get over the fact that one among them had made it big. "I have never seen such a big reception in my life. Close to 30,000 people were present to greet him (Shami). Fans came from Morabadad, 21 km from our village. Even now, as I speak to you, there are still about 1,000 people in my home. But I am loving it. I am overwhelmed," Shami's father Tousif told The Indian Express.

Tousif was the president of the panchayat for 12 years. All of his three sons--he also has a daughter -- played cricket till the college level but Shami's talent stood out. In 2003, Shami was just 13 years old when his coach Md Badaruddiun advised his father to send him to Kolkata. "I told Shami that he would be granted permission on one condition--that one day he had to play for India. He promised me and has now fulfilled my ambition. Words can't describe my feelings when I saw him on TV yesterday," said Tousif

In Mohammad Hafeez they not only have a man who is already leading the Twenty20 side, they have a very good cricketer at the most secure moment in his career, both within the side and in his own abilities. Later this summer is the last Champions Trophy in England and although it is too early to be a thorough dress rehearsal, it will be invaluable experience. Sure it is difficult to completely erase the fear that Hafeez's batting might not hold up in Australia, or that he will be 34 by then, but no one is better placed currently (and to worry about how a player might do as captain before you make him captain kind of defeats the point). But the more pressing reason is Misbah's own place in the side as a batsman.

I'm happy I did reasonably well for myself. I made a living from cricket. Everybody has a regret in life -- mine is that I didn't play a Test. I wouldn't have been hurt had I bowled badly, got hammered, and then not selected. But I didn't even get a chance to fail.

I was still bowling well in domestic cricket. I thought I'd be considered for the next series against Pakistan. Then India travelled to Australia. I knew they would choose five pacers. I was only 27 then. When I wasn't named in the squad, I knew that was it and I'd never get a look in again.

Commercial greed is no justification for tampering with a schedule which has been sanctified by tradition for the simple reason that a four-year cycle is appropriate for the Ashes. Outside exceptional circumstances like wartime, administrators have no more right to change this cycle than to stage the Olympics every three years.