The Surfer

The approach of this new Kohli-Shastri combination is interesting. They want to dominate the opposing team from the get-go. To succeed at No 3, there is some degree of defence needed to counter difficult circumstances, such as those in the second innings at Galle. A temperamental batsman might not be the best option, and the managers realised their error ahead of the second Test. Maybe, just maybe, they had chosen the wrong man all along. What happens if Rohit's inconsistent Test record catches up with him at No 5 as well? How will they explain the re-arrangement of this middle order then?

For the world, Kumar was this venerated technician. But in my opinion, he never reached that level. He could have done so much better with the skills he had. Everybody speaks about his average being in the same league of Graeme Pollock and Garry Sobers, but Kumar could have done better. He too often let bowlers dismiss him rather than them having to get him out.

Over the years, it's not just his batting that has evolved to meet the demands of the modern era, it is also his personality. He might still get chided for 'his accent' or his inability to make the same home-grown connect that his bromance buddy, Mahela Jayawardene, has managed to, but his aura and his cult has over the course of his career encompassed these minor disparities

A split second on a split-screen was all it took to change Shanmuganathan Sharujan's life.

Australia has plenty of fast bowlers coming through. Pat Cummins is in the wings here, James Pattinson is coming back and Nathan Coulter-Nile has potential - so there are a lot of young guys performing with the ball. The batting is the concern. Nobody is putting up their hand - the reason Voges got his opportunity at the latter part of his career was that he scored more runs back home than younger guys and deserved his chance. Australia play well in their own conditions but it is identifying the guys who can adapt all over the world. That is the difference between being good and being great. There is a chance now for young Australian players to make a mark and grab an opportunity.

As a captain, he was intuitive and adventurous. As a figurehead, he was sometimes surprising. His manful handling of public duties while grieving for his friend Phillip Hughes last November left an indelible mark. In private, he was a tower of strength, too. His final tribute was a Test century made under duress in Adelaide, likely to remain his last for Australia.

A team-mate of yours nearly completed 25 years playing international cricket. Would you have preferred a similar way, though your body has taken a toll between 1990 and 2008? Oh no. Eighteen years itself felt like a lot more than 18 years. Hats off to Sachin Tendulkar for having that kind of longevity in international cricket. To me, 18 years was pretty hard on the body and by the time I finished, it was quite challenging to go out there and bowl.

It is a dream for anyone to have a career that coincided with such great cricketers. Rahul (Dravid), Sachin, (VVS) Laxman, Sourav (Ganguly), Sri (Javagal Srinath) at my time and people finishing their careers - Kapil (Dev), Ravi (Shastri), (Md) Azharuddin, a whole lot of people who I managed to play with. I saw an era of three generations in Indian cricket as I went along. It's been really fantastic to have played alongside cricketers who are now possibly slowly getting to the later part of their careers.

And of course, your 10 wickets in an innings (10/74 vs Pakistan in New Delhi, 1999) and you bowled with a broken jaw in the West Indies in 2002 will never be forgotten.

I don't think they were all planned. I was destined to get 10 wickets. And the jaw was something that I always felt 'if my shoulder was fine, I would try to bowl'. That's all. And my shoulder was fine. It was quite painful, though. The thought of getting injured again and not having to play a part perhaps made me go there and bowl."

What could be better, on a warm summer's day, than to see England uncurl those Australian fingers from the urn and win back cricket's most fabled prize?

But Broad and Co. - Co. were also excellent - could not have reckoned on Australia's meek co-operation. Good balls were made better by hard hands pushing at them. Nearly every batsman was classically squared up, and Steve Smith cubed. Not until the appearance of tailenders Peter Nevill and Mitch Johnson did it seem to occur to the Australians that the leave was an option. It will be a long time before the Australians stop waking in the middle of the night to a translucent image of Broad, a ghostly sighing and a breathy voice-over: "English conditions."

In the case of the beleaguered Clarke, an average ball was made into a wicket-taker by a wild drive at the first delivery he faced from Broad. His thinking? "If he pitches it up, I'm going to hit it as far as I can. I watched guys around me getting out defending. Live by the sword, die by the sword." But first ball? Like compatriot James Faulkner, Clarke should be banned from driving in England.