The Surfer

Misbah is not as good a player as Inzamam-ul-Haq, a consummate hooker who would have dealt with Broad’s bouncers. But Misbah has something of Inzamam’s lordly demeanour, and he is a far more impressive captain.

Three months later, in the New Year's Ashes Test at Sydney, arrived the first of many false tipping points. John Dyson was run out by Bob Willis off his own bowling in the match's first over, by at least 18 inches, the Wisden Almanack recorded. Except he was not, because Mel Johnson, the square leg umpire, did not think so. Dyson made a five-hour 79 in a game that was ultimately drawn, allowing Australia to regain the Ashes.

As the Dravid-Tendulkar generation moves on, as India starts to put together a new team, the India XI's performances will be erratic and valuations will drop. In these circumstances, the entire Indian cricket industry that has come up in the past seven to 10 years - and which now employs tens of thousands - could find the IPL a safer bet. This may sound abhorrent to some but is undeniable.

However, it is equally true that the incestuous relationship between those who run the IPL and those responsible for India's international commitments cannot continue. A business conglomerate can promote a lucrative tobacco and cigarettes division as well as a more sober health-care division. Both these divisions can report to the same board or holding company, but they cannot have common managers with serious conflicts of interest.

We all watch with great trepidation the manner in which Marlon Samuels, for example, consistently puts his team under pressure by using up sometimes as many as five overs before he gets going; if he gets going. Dot ball after dot ball usually puts the batsmen coming in after him under incredible pressure. In the game against the Combined Colleges and Campuses, he ‘rescued’ Jamaica from certain defeat with some lusty hitting at the end, but it was he who put the team under pressure in the first place.

When he coached England, current Indian coach Duncan Fletcher conceptualised the central contract system, wherein country came before county. Thus Andy Flower, the England coach, can withhold players from domestic cricket if he thinks it’s in the national team’s interest. England have too much T20 at the domestic level, but a player like Graeme Swann plays around eight matches a year, including the ones for England, because the interests of the country come first, not that of Nottinghamshire. Fletcher needs to be given the freedom to implement this in India.

Out on the off-white and scorching concrete Adelaide Oval terraces, the boy watched Graham Yallop score 121 against India 34 years ago. Young minds as they are, Yallop sounded like wallop, which is exactly what the future Australian captain did that day in Adelaide. The boy's fascination with Yallop, along with the dash of debutant opener Rick Darling and obduracy of Bob Simpson, ended his parents' dreams of him winning Wimbledon.

I got Ponting out on several occasions, without getting hit around much. As for Tendulkar, I didn’t play a Test against him for ten years at the peak of my career, I have also dismissed Lara but I think he was the most difficult. He seemed very unusual to a bowler’s eye, with the bat coming down from up high at an awkward angle. He would also jump here and there, so it made him a very different and difficult batsman to bowl to.

The point is, it isn't Test cricket's fault that it finds itself in a modern world where the kicks must beinstant. So many Tests from that last half decade shows that it still has the propensity to excite and excite in a way which the upstart formats could never contrive. But as the players hunt down the £1m deals and as the fans go in search of high-five thrills, the senior game needs some help.