The Surfer

Antigua's cricketing knight celebrates with a round of golf on the island's blissful Cedar Valley course while the cricketing world wishes happy returns to one of its most imperishable monarchs. Can it really be 21 years since that cathartic Test match finale at The Oval when an enraptured full house rose in farewell as, at the pavilion gate, Sir Viv Richards turned to doff his faded old maroon cap to all sides in courtly acknowledgement?

Tendulkar might have overstayed his welcome in the shorter form of the game but - to get back to the question we started with - who will tell him that? He might still have a role to play in rebuilding the Indian batting in Test cricket, and it was believed that chief selector Kris Srikkanth being his first captain might just be the man to sit Tendulkar down and advice him. But it didn't happen, Tendulkar has decided to play in the Asia Cup in Dhaka where, hopefully he will make his quite meaningless 100th international century and re-focus on the present rather than on posterity.

Perhaps it is just as well that India did not win the tri-series in Australia. Victory is a universal solvent, dissipating such matters as team weaknesses, individual failures and sensible views about rebuilding

What could've been a glorious farewell tour of Australia for Sachin Tendulkar has turned into an ongoing tale of missed opportunities leading to frustration all round. With each failure to score his coveted one-hundredth international century Tendulkar's become more desperate to the point where, when he was run out at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he gestured in Brett Lee's direction as if to say: "It was his fault I was caught short of my crease." When a player of Tendulkar's renowned ability starts blaming other people for his failure to deliver, it's time he took a look in the mirror and asked himself: "Am I playing this game for the right reason?"

Surely it's part of Ryder's contractual obligations to the national body that he is fit, healthy and ready to play cricket for the Black Caps when required. Whether this was a minor breach or not, it was still a breach and his fifth stuff-up by my count. But even so, NZC continually seems to let him off with a slap over the wrist with a wet bus ticket. The message they are sending to younger players who train their guts out and don't carry on like Ryder is that you don't have to be professional to play for your country.

I think this was Ryder's final chance. And what, it's only taken one week since his return to international cricket after a two-month hiatus for him to find himself in trouble again. By dropping him only for one ODI, the message to everyone else is a bad one.

I am not excited about ... what the selection tells me. It tells me that these test matches are more than likely going to be played on slowish, green seaming conditions. I agree with that if all I cared about was bringing the gap between the teams closer and trying to nullify the advantage the extra pace South Africans have over the Black Caps. However I don't agree this is the way forward for New Zealand as a test nation and don't believe seeing batsmen poke and prod or take their chances and slog is a particularly good spectacle.

So what should New Zealand Cricket's position be? The idea of having teammates take turns as a minder for Ryder is wrong. It's been tried and didn't work. In any case players have other, more pressing priorities such as their own careers instead of keeping an eye on a grown man. Should Ryder's next contract have specific clauses in it, related to performance, and suited to his particular situation.

Now that he hasn’t made that ton, they want to fling him out of the team unceremoniously. Nobody’s worried about that landmark anymore. People are now asking why isn’t he retiring? Why is he being left in the team when Sehwag has been shown the door? On Wednesday, all TV channels, including Arnab Goswami of the Spanish Inquisition, were asking the same questions. If success has many fathers, failure needs at least one mother — the mother of all scapegoats. Sachin is a handy one.

That the media isn't all negative was evident in the way the Kohli innings was reported, both on television and in print. The media was unanimous in hailing the innings as one of the best ever played in the 50-over format, an incredible feat which has given India a chance of making the final. Yet, at the slightest sign of a crisis, the first blame always goes to the media, the cricket establishment's favourite whipping boy.