The Surfer

"Elegant four-story Regency houses with wrought iron balconies peered loftily over the Alfred Coote stand, built above the Queen’s Road shops in 1959,” Arnot writes of it, “Rows of boarding houses clambered up the cliffs towards the castle ruins cresting the summit. Gulls soared overhead and John Arlott’s claret-honed tones rose to new levels of lyricism as he set the scene for Sunday afternoon viewers during BBC2’s coverage of John Player League matches.”

His technique is too risky, too loose. McCullum, who has a decent test average by New Zealand standards, doesn't look like an opener. He doesn't have the application to adapt his game either.

Unlike the truly great attacking openers - a rare breed including Australian Matthew Hayden, who is about to take up the T20 cudgels at the age of 40 - McCullum lacks a base from which to consistently launch his brilliant shot-making against new ball attacks. Hayden destroyed opponents with a presence that said he had learnt the opener's craft, and then expanded upon that.

The flight from Sydney to Perth takes more than four hours, and most members of the Indian cricket team had their earphones plugged in almost as soon as they took their seats. One of them, though, was reading a copy of Inside Sport, and his own one-page profile. He smiled through the initial paragraphs and then sat up with a start when he came to one that spoke of how senior members of the team had subjected him to "Sir Gary"(Sobers) jibes when on a flight to the Caribbean. A few minutes later, a colleague who was sitting next to him told Irfan Pathan that I had written the profile.

We can all sit around with our friends lazily whining about the abominable job the ICC has done to run cricket, or we can type down our thoughts on just what we think they should be doing. We can ask for minutes of their meetings to be made public. We can ask for a fans associations to be allowed to represent the fans. We can mention that the world cup is for the world. We can tell them the true marketing value of Tests. And we can remind them that this is a game that people only make money from this game because of our love for it.

In the 35 years that I [Hattangadi] have seen Mumbai's cricket (and I must be honest in saying that watching both of you [Agarkar and Zaheer] has given me as much joy), I have met people I have loved, hated and been indifferent to. But I have never been able to doubt their intent of having the good of Mumbai's cricket at heart. Your myopic assessment of individuals is obviously based on an intuitive vision and first-hand experience. I trust you will use this same vision if and when you see something amiss in the corridors of power of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

It’s as if sports-starved fans have contrived to accept the myth of Kiwi competitiveness out of hope for a compelling Australia v New Zealand series, desperate to avoid the dullness of the past decade of Test cricket played between these two teams.

There are two points at issue here. First, injury prevention is a worthy enough aim, but should it be the primary consideration or should fast bowling be regarded as a high-risk occupation? Motor sport would be a whole lot safer, after all, if they all drove a little slower. Thus, play less cricket and there is less chance of injury. Bit facile that, but then again, if indeed injury prevention is high on the priority list, what is the most appropriate way of implementing this?

Better yet, being the person she is, Bauer has been using the cricket programme to target social problems in the Maasai community, such as the spread of Aids. The Maasai are traditionally polygamous, which has contributed to the syndrome's growth. "The teachers also taught us how to incorporate HIV/Aids awareness into cricket and coaching," Nissan says. "I now integrate HIV awareness into cricket. I teach the ABC approach – Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom Use. Abstaining from sex is like a batsman abstaining from hitting balls in the air so he is not caught. Being faithful to ones partner is like how batsmen must communicate to decide whether to make a run or not. And use of condoms is like how batsmen must protect their wickets.”