The Surfer

How could Fletcher, who did wonders for England, fail miserably in getting the Indian team to perform in Tests? It seems that Fletcher hasn’t been allowed to operate with the same freedom he had when he was the coach of England. How could unfit senior players make it to the England and Australia tours and the performing ones be left out?

Saddest dismissal of the summer

England are still clinging desperately to the fond hope that their young brigade will come good in the nick of time. Alex Hales made 99 earlier in the summer, the highest T20 score for England; Jonny Bairstow has already revealed his credentials; Jos Buttler is finding it hard to make a mark of any kind so far in international cricket. The last match tonight in the NatWest Series, no more than a sequence of glorified warm-ups, may see matters change for the better. England need to reach Sri Lanka and hope that things will somehow come together in their two warm-ups.

Chand has already made it to the first-class ranks and has notched up his first century. If he is to become the next big thing in Indian cricket, it is important that the national selectors recognise him as soon as he gives them the opportunity. Two or three more centuries at that level, if made in good style, should be enough to warrant some exposure to the best bowlers.

The absence of Pietersen does alter the dynamic of the selection. Had he been there, a strong case could have been made for promoting Jonathan Trott, their emergency opener, to that position full time, and moving Ian Bell to No3, in as much as it would not significantly alter the middle order. Now, though, they would not want a fragile engine room.

A new opener to accompany Alastair Cook, with a long-term as well as immediate view, has to be the way

Cricket is often derided by those who don't really follow it for not being a particularly physical and taxing sport and sometimes, watching a sweat-less Test session in England, you could even begin to wonder yourself.

But one look at any of the games here and the full effect of just what these athletes were putting into the game was never more apparent. The abiding image is of Michael Hussey, who is probably fit enough to complete a triathlon or two before play starts, on his haunches on the boundary line between every delivery in the Abu Dhabi ODI.

How is life after cancer? Did you face any problem later?

Your thoughts on Yuvraj Singh as a cricketer? Can he make a strong comeback?

How did you actually invent this shot?

I played a lot of tennis ball cricket in Sri Lanka and on the streets sometimes there’s not much option to hit on either side of the wicket. I targeted the spot over the ’keeper’s head as a convenient area to score runs from. First came the paddle scoop, where you make room to lift the ball over the fineleg fielder. But I found it becoming common. Then I worked hard on my shot to make it even finer to scoop it directly over the ’keeper’s head. It took me a couple of years to perfect the shot.

How Ernest Hilaire saw his task when he took over as West Indies Cricket Board chief executive in October 2009 reminded me of the celebrated bodybuilder Charles Atlas’ ads in the comic books of my schooldays (yes, it was that long ago). “Let me prove I can make you a new man,” was Atlas’ catchline over sketches involving a bony nerd, at the beach with his girl, having sand kicked in his face by a muscle-bound strongman. Predictably, the next panel showed the weakling transformed into “a new man” after a quick course from Atlas’ famous instruction manual and now, as “The Hero of the Beach”, getting his own back on his tormentor.

He has not looked terrible these two years, he has just kept getting out and if that is an obvious thing to say, it makes it more difficult to know what will come now. Because ahead of him awaits, inescapably, true seniority and its exponentially greater scrutiny. Something will give, either his place or his style.

Can he go from being a batsman whose existence brought runs to one who accumulates runs to exist?