The Surfer

The chances are that Kevin Pietersen will be drafted into the Test squad for India (there is Ian Bell's planned paternity leave to use as an excuse, if necessary) unless the "reintegration process", outlined on Wednesday in Colombo, goes badly awry. And this makes some sense. If they are going to have him back, they may as well get on with it. But even though the "reintegration process" is due to take place behind closed doors, we will be talking of little else. The press corps can be rather more interested in archaeology than you might think.

Greig, of course, sees and understands the concept of Pietersen being an outsider, not being a true-blue Englishman, and how that might sway judgements. But he believes that everyone is somehow manageable. Boycott's intransigence has eerie parallels, however. England hung on grimly on that 1974 tour and came to the Fifth Test still only 1-0 down after a series of rearguard actions. Boycott batted supremely in making 99 and 112, and Greig, having invented a brand-new style of off-break bowling, took 8 for 86 and 5 for 70 as England won by 112 runs.

Badree is the master of line and length. He has enough variation that the batsman can't settle down, but enough consistency that if they wait for the bad ball his whole spell might have gone by and they've only had one ball to hit. For a leg-spinner that is exceptional. Narine is someone who you can't take your eyes off. At the end of a Badree over it is hard to remember anything happening. He bores the batsmen into submission. And he does it well.

For Sammy, the victory was a vindication of his tactical approach to the captaincy which has seen him work with the WICB in emphasising team discipline to a degree that critics often considered unfair and unhealthy. Whatever our reservations about his captaincy, Captain Sammy deserves our admiration and congratulations for keeping his team united, committed and inspired enough to survive early defeat against Sri Lanka and come back to take the trophy against them. Yesterday's triumph can only have enhanced confidence in Sammy's captaincy.

This should be an essay question for a university exam: "Marlon Samuels as West Indian hero. Discuss." Samuels has serious history. Quite apart from being the next big thing who was not for over a decade, he has been banned for passing information on to an alleged bookmaker and has been called for chucking. This last one is not resolved.

Kandy's Old Trinitians' Sports Club is a picture of civility on any given afternoon. Dapper men sit in leather back chairs, reading the newspaper and sipping whisky as a breeze wafts in the open doors from the cricket field. From the vaulted ceiling, a coat of arms reads Respice Finem (the Latin translation: "Look towards the end") as it casts an eye over the scene. This is the motto of the members' alma mater, Trinity College. It also sums up a Sri Lankan cricketing mantra which treats schools as a treasured nursery; at least as much as clubs and provinces.

Named the ODI cricketer of the year just a fortnight earlier, Kohli drew oohs and aahs with his strokeplay in the game’s shortest version. Suddenly, from Pallekelle to Paschim Vihar, questions were being asked: are we looking at the next big thing in batting now that Sachin too has indicated he’s on his way out? And hey, could the boy who captained India to an Under-19 World Cup title not be M.S Dhoni’s replacement if push comes to shove before 2015? The safe answer for the first query is, “Perhaps, but it’s too early to say.” The not-so-safe answer for the second: “Oh yeah.”

Often on match-eves, one has seen visuals of Fletcher in close consultation with skipper MS Dhoni and they always seem to be having intense and important discussions. However, results don't seem to suggest that they had worked out something beneficial to the team, or indeed to the players who have been struggling. At this stage, it's only natural to raise the big question: what exactly has he done so far?

We are struggling to find quality bowlers. If you watch Ranji, there are hardly any spinners to write home about. The medium pacers aren't sustaining themselves. Count in the last three years, how many of them have come and gone. Sreesanth had such a lovely out-swinger. I don't know how he lost his way. In the batting, Virat and Pujara are already there. I've high hopes from Robin Bisht, Mandeep Singh and Unmukt Chand. Among the quicks, Shami Ahmed is sharp. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has promise too. We are at the crossroads. We've lost a few batting legends.

It is a run of success quite possibly unprecedented by any British team, male or female, in any sport, and it makes Edwards arguably the nation's most prolific leader of all. From it Sarah Taylor has emerged, in her capacity as a wicketkeeper-batsman of genuine first-class standard, as arguably the best female cricketer of all time, and the astounding Lydia Greenway as its finest fielder. England have kept ahead of the game and intend to continue doing so.

I asked one or two people who know him well what sort of man he was. One told me the story of India’s game against England in the World Cup when, even though he had every excuse to miss it, Yuvraj turned up for a book launch in a bowling alley. He had promised and stayed long after he could have left and listened to a great mass of fans all “screaming as if he was a Beatle.”

With Yuvraj what you see is what you get. WYSIWYG, in computer language. Even though he is a man of massive sixes and subtle slow left-arm bowling Yuvraj is still “always himself and he is never ashamed to be himself.

Luke Pomersbach sits quietly in a Brisbane church and thanks God he is alive. With the amount of alcohol and drugs he has consumed, the trouble-plagued cricketer knows it is a miracle he is still here.