The Surfer

Vijay Manjrekar was another selector who, at the State level, picked players from nowhere and backed them. When a selector questioned his way of picking players who had not performed in local tournaments, he said, “If I have to go by performances all the time, then the association can hire some statisticians and pick the team.” Perhaps we need to appoint selectors who are passionate about the game, before they can select players.

As I think back now, he didn't play innings [early on] that led you to believe he would score 21 Test hundreds. The only shot from his youth I remember is when he pulled Australia's Glenn McGrath on to the dressing-room balcony at Worcester. I remember a Devon Malcolm bouncer missing his grill and cutting his eye badly at Northampton. Off he went to hospital for stitches and within a couple of hours he was back out there batting with a white bloodied bandage on his forehead. He is a tough so and so.

In the past 17 seasons there have been many more gifted and elegant cricketers to play for Middlesex and England than Strauss. There have been more instinctive captains too. But if you want a person who is prepared to commit to achieving or producing something, then work tirelessly until that goal is achieved, then he is your man.

The assumption is that the Pietersen texts were derogatory about some of his colleagues and in particular his captain, which is none too edifying. But the notion that Pietersen is the first cricketer to slag off his captain – or coach — to opponents or anyone else is, of course, a complete nonsense. This has been happening to captains (and, more recently, coaches) since Grace. Peter Roebuck once wrote on this subject: "Captaincy seems to involve half-hearing conversations which you'd rather not hear at all."

I know we will lose our world No 1 status if we do not win this Test but that is definitely not something we are thinking about, because that can affect us if we look too far forward at things like that

The video, released on Saturday night, reveals much about his confused state of mind. What should have been him taking a minute to apologise unreservedly for texts he allegedly sent to South African players about his team-mates, instead lasted over nine. If he expected the video to make things right between him and his team-mates, why was he still issuing conditions such as “the team must move closer to me as well” before rapprochement can be achieved?

Since 1992, most international cricketers have largely been able to focus purely on their game. Where South Africa has a cricketing pedigree which now spans 124 years to fall back on, as well as a sport-mad public to support, cricket in Zimbabwe has struggled to impact at a time where there are bigger issues present. The overriding issue is, of course, the one which led to Zimbabwe Cricket's most renowned moment; the black armband protest made by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga to mourn the death of democracy in their country.

Apparently Pietersen has agreed to apologise to the team, and that is only right and proper. Flower never lets issues fester. Contractual talk aside, the team equilibrium must be restored immediately. This is a silly, unnecessary and ego-filled distraction. Pietersen got it badly wrong last week. He cannot have everything. It is not all about him. And that is coming from a usually staunch Pietersen defender.

"Praveen Kumar swings the ball and, of course, Zaheer Khan is a good left-hand bowl and Rohit Sharma (the Mumbai batsman had got a decent haul of wickets when he went to the Caribbeans with the India A squad in June-July) ... you guys have some wonderful spinners too. You have some good guys coming up too... I love them. My favourite bowler is of course Sharma, Rohit Sharma. My favourite international bowler is Jimmy Anderson from England."

"I want to show you that I am better at cricket than running! I am a really talented batsman. I am a T20 batsman. You guys need to see me in action. …I am a bowling machine that can bat all day. I have played some cricket... that's my love, that's my passion, every day I watch cricket."

No matter what happens now, the selectors are in a mess for the third Test. When they sit down to pick the team in the next two days, with the squad announcement due on Sunday, they must first decide on Pietersen's status.

The solution is simple and does not entail bespoke contracts, which would be heading down an unmanageable route which Flower would not tolerate.

Pietersen has to re-establish his desire to represent England in all forms and then work out a compromise schedule that is satisfactory, as far as possible, to the requirements of both parties without jeopardising the primary goal of developing the England team.

It is not likely but neither is it impossible. They had better be quick, though, because the names for the World T20 squad will be required very soon.

Ajit Wadekar remembers Ramchand as his first Ranji captain. “He never cared for the reputation of opposition. In the 1962 Ranji Trophy final against Rajasthan I scored 235 and he scored a century. Among other things he taught me how to eat with fork and knife and that too on the first day of my Ranji debut.” Abbas Ali Baig says he was a very good host and a wonderful human being.