The Surfer

This week has seen two leading contemporary players bid adieu for different reasons. The fast bowler Brett Lee is simply tired, while the wicketkeeper Mark Boucher may lose an eye in a horrific accident behind the stumps. If the 2015 World Cup is in his sights, Tendulkar should play on but without deciding when and where. If it isn’t, he should be honest and inform the selectors. The chairman of selectors was his first international captain – that should make things a bit easier.

Despite the four centuries he had made earlier that South African domestic season, there was a barely suppressed suspicion that he was merely part of the quota system designed to ensure that the team at least partly represented the ethnic composition of the country. Sympathy was tinged with an unkind laughter.

They are not laughing now. Amla, still with a method not necessarily preferred by conventional coaching manuals, has become one of the world's leading batsmen in all forms of the game. Perhaps it is his slight unorthodoxy, allied to vast powers of concentration, that has fooled bowlers.

Jamaica's cricket, over the last few years, has been littered with a whole bunch of problems, which include, but aren't confined to, incompetent workers, bickering, and infighting. If some are to be believed, 'infighting' can be quite literal. In one famous case recently, a sitting president was accused of beating up another board member, hours before an election!

Mark Boucher will settle in the memory like so many fulfilled cricketers before him. Time came for him, as it does for them all. Mark Ramprakash, brooding prince of Surrey CCC, county cricket's Heathcliff, leaves behind something far more complex. It's been interesting to watch his followers and commentators trying to work out what it is. Regret is too obvious and too easy. If Boucher was emblematic of South Africa, then who better to be emblematic of England in the 1990s than Ramprakash, thwarted by ambition and misdirection, denied by better players, consistently out of time.

Through the first half of the 1990’s, the two W’s ran through several batting line ups and it was virtually impossible to play their famous toe-crushers. Interestingly, they often did this on dead dry surfaces which in fact aid the ball to get roughed up faster. Many a bowler’s graveyard had now turned into a hunting ground for these fast men.

Was this the beginning of an era where reverse swing was going to rule the roost or was it the supreme most display of it that might never be witnessed again? The fast bowling era seems to be a distant memory and there is a dearth of genuine toe-crushing and helmet-wrecking men around the world today. Any reasonable concession or encouragement that refuels their kind should be welcomed with an open mind if not open arms.

Boucher's fate has affected the squad in England more than anyone could possibly have imagined. Yes, sure, it is not a matter of life and death but the potential – perhaps even likely – loss of sight in his left eye has stunned everyone and left a profound feeling of shock. Not even the great wicketkeeper's messages of encouragement on Twitter have lifted the pall of gloom which settled over his teammates.

When Horn (South Africa guide for the Switzerland trip) spoke about "overcoming adversity" and "confronting your fears" his audience assumed that he was referring to physical challenges. As with the vast majority of males, particularly of this age, they are finding it considerably harder to cope with emotional ones.

I don't need a designation for people to walk up to me and share whatever they want to. Anyone should feel comfortable to approach me about not just cricket but also their issues. That is what a leader is all about. A leader needs to create a secure atmosphere where players can go out and express themselves. I understand the insecurities a player faces; I've always been insecure. Even now, I'm insecure when I'm playing for India.

... I reckon it could be the worst summer since 1958. The New Zealanders toured then, and they lost 174 playing hours, or 29 days, or one whole month, to rain. Lancashire in 1958 lost almost as many hours and days. Only four batsmen in the whole country scored more than three first-class centuries. Total attendances for the season fell by half a million. Many counties depended for survival on football pools run by their supporters’ organisations.

The mood in the Proteas' camp is sombre. Of course, in light of recent events at Surrey, nobody was losing perspective. Boucher won't get the fitting end his career deserves, but at least he had one - and a glorious one at that. He may even lose the sight in one eye, which would be awful. But it is not life and death. Boucher's Tweets confirmed that he needed not reminding of that. Mark Verdon Boucher doesn't do self-pity.