The Surfer

South Africa are very regimented and disciplined. What I always found playing against them was that the more imagination and flair you showed the more successful you would be. Unorthodox tactics unsettle their rhythm.

They are used to three slips, gully, backward point, bowling outside off stump and wearing each other down all day. That is the type of cricket they play but whenever you step out of that by having two catchers at midwicket and three gullys, for example, or start bowling slower ball bouncers and mixing it up a little bit, they start to struggle.

One wonders if the plan was always to have De Villiers as the man to take over from Boucher. A few years ago, I remember that there were issues of a back injury and talk of loading too much on one player, suggesting that it was not the plan. The philosophy may well have changed since then, but it seems to me nobody really knows. To be fair to the selectors and the team management, AB was intended to act also as the cover for Boucher in the 'keeping department.

For the Proteas to have “the” injury happen right at the start of the tour meant that there was a big call to be made and in this instance, I reckon even if AB was not too keen to take the gloves (which he probably was happy to do if asked), there would have been some persuading done because of the fear of having too long a tail against the No 1 ranked test team in the world.

The first question was whether the BCB could strike a balance between the commercialisation of cricket and the development of players, especially when the country desperately needed to focus on improving the standard of first-class cricket to save face in the international arena. Most importantly, many also had doubts over the governing council's ability to properly observe all legal formalities related to undertaking and shaping such a massive financial venture.

So after fewer than six weeks, he has returned with a new offer which, it appears, has him back to play all three forms of cricket for England if he can play the entire IPL for the Delhi Daredevils, whose contract with Pietersen is worth $2 million (£1.3 million) per tournament. This year Pietersen managed just over half the tournament due to his Test commitments with England, but as he is paid about £160,000 a week, plus other bonuses, his mind would have been plotting how to get it all.

Suddenly, we know, and instead of 50-over cricket he wants to miss, it is Test cricket, specifically that early series that clashes with the IPL. Incredibly, spending more quality time with his family has suddenly fallen off the agenda.

While the two countries have almost always been at loggerheads where national politics is concerned, they seem to be joined at the hip in cricket politics.

The BCCI derives its clout in the ICC in no small measure to the support and votes it receives from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, supplemented by that from associate members. Even from these, the most solid and consistent consistent support has come from Pakistan, beginning with the joint hosting of the 1987 World Cup when NKP Salve and Air Marshal Nur Khan, the respective board presidents, broke the England-Australia axis and took the tournament out of England.

For Lee's international career, which ended abruptly on Friday, will be recalled by those close to him as being about much more than what happened on the field. Between winning every cricket reward on offer, the taker of 310 Test and 380 ODI wickets ended up jamming with Neil Finn, Diesel and Jimmy Barnes, receiving unexpected calls from Elton John, drinking beers with Prince Harry and releasing No.1 songs with Indian icons.

We all know South Africa’s bowling is strong but again I just wonder if Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander will have bowled enough overs before the first Test. The De Villiers factor behind the stumps could also be another boost for England. It is a job AB would not have wanted to take on. It will be physically demanding on top of facing a good England attack. Boucher was also the engine of the team.

If wickets fall early, you need to build up, while if you get a solid start, you need to push things up. Yuvraj (Singh) had once talked about the importance of a solid middle order and how crucial his role is along with myself and (MS) Dhoni. When I scored those crucial 30s against Australia and Pakistan in the World Cup, I experienced tremendous satisfaction. Sachin Bhai said 'you won the match for us.' Gary (Kirsten) said 'you won the World Cup for us with those two knocks.' Nothing could match those praises. I am ready to bat anywhere the team requires me to.

The fact of the matter is our best players are going to leave the game having taken more than any other New Zealand cricketer has ever taken from the game - but if things continue as they are, they will leave the game in this country in a worse state than when they entered it.