The Surfer

Hughes was undeniably a genius, with the qualities of the Prom King, yet perversely these led to unpopularity. Hughes was not entirely blameless, but in essence he was a thoroughly decent man whose apparent destiny to captain Australia happily ever after was compromised by factors beyond his control. His story is harder than most to distil. The main themes are the mutinous behaviour of senior players while he was Australian captain, the only partial fulfilment of his rare ability, and a horrible, grubby ending to his international career: a tearful resignation, two runs in his last four Tests, and finally a rebel tour to South Africa.

As it turned out, the stitching on the ball split early on in the match and the players just had to get on with it; far from ideal in a First Class match, albeit one which has no bearing on Division Two promotion. The performance of the ball got mixed reactions.

He was a magnificent bowler, a terrifying prospect to face, capable of inflicting serious injury as the ball sped out of his hand at 90mph plus from a height of 10 feet. But elite batsmen are not physical cowards and the danger he posed them was more subtle, shredding their technique as he made them contort into S-shapes to fend off his steepling bounce, his remorselessly precise line snuffing out their scoring shots and the spectre of his devastating yorker arrowing towards their toe-caps kindling their insecurity.

I captained the side a long time ago. A lot of changes have taken place since then. This is a different era, a different phase, but the team is still focussed on winning matches. Any team that can win matches in Australia, South Africa and England has to be good.

It is possible that the selectors might ask Alastair Cook, the 50-over captain, to step in as a short-term measure. Although Cook is not in the T20 side because he is deemed not to have quite the appropriate qualities, it would be a valid call.

Equally, Cook has already had a long summer and may need the week off before leading the team on the sub-continent. Pietersen is more at ease with himself than for some time and is also in splendid form. Although he was a reluctant convert to T20 he has shown himself to be highly adept at it.

Things only got worse as the date of the surgery — Tendulkar was operated at the St John’s & Elizabeth Hospital in London — approached. “There were five camera crews, 150 phone calls, 180 emails and the hospital had to appoint a special PR agency just to manage the situation,” says the man who restored an elbow that has been the fulcrum of Indian cricket for two decades.

And so to Trott and Cook's triumph, the centrepiece of the evening. This really did feel like a defining moment of ascension for a team built around two of the most quietly acquisitive, notably unflamboyant of modern batsmen. England players talk reflexively of building, working hard, staying hungry (Cook promised to work hard "for the 24 months coming up". OK, Alastair. And do try and enjoy it a little bit). But for one night at least this was a moment to take a deep breath and enjoy the view.

Here's a conundrum. The pitch in Galle was considered so dubious that it has been reported to the ICC, and presently a dogsbody is expected to give the curator the cricketing equivalent of a kick up the backside. Yet the Test was a fascinating contest.

Any chance of asking spectators for an opinion about pitches? Maybe Galle was a bit dusty but batsmen cannot spend their entire lives smacking the ball around on roads. Pallekele was unduly placid but no one seemed too worried about that.

Before Muralitharan made his debut in 1992, Sri Lanka had won just two Tests. Over a 132-Test career in which he took 795 wickets - five were against Australia for the International Cricket Council World XI in 2005 - he contributed to 54 wins. In those triumphs, he took a staggering 438 wickets at 16.18. Over the past two decades, Sri Lanka have won just five times without him. Since his exit against India in Galle last year, they have lost three Tests and drawn six.

His [Tendulkar's] performance in the Test series in England saw him fall from the pedestal of a cricketing god. As the failures multiplied and the hundredth international ton refused to come, he began to look more and more the ageing athlete clinging on after his day had passed for the sake of a record ...

If Tendulkar had retired after the World Cup, the last memory of him in the blue of India would have been of him holding the trophy. And the last memory of him in Test match whites would have been a tremendous century on a brute of a pitch in Cape Town against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel at their nastiest. An innings that helped India come back undefeated for the first time from South Africa.