The Surfer

But winning in the subcontinent is a little more complicated. England have not won there since the winter of 2000‑01, when Duncan Fletcher and Nasser Hussain conjured stunning series victories in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is this side's ultimate challenge and it usually requires a change of plan. In Sri Lanka England will have to play two spinners and that may also be the case against Pakistan.

So it was that Cook did not reach a triple-century. But one day a member of this extraordinary England side surely will, because Cook has shown them how.

He does not spit defiance, contort his face with concentration, or scan cricket's records with selfish intent. He does not even sweat. He merely understands his limitations and plays, quite contentedly, entirely admirably, within them. For a very long time.

All the headlines will rightly go to Alastair Cook, but Eoin Morgan will be quietly chuffed with his day's work. It's been a year since he scored his first Test hundred and in some ways your second can be the toughest.

It's the innings that confirms to a batsman in his own mind that he belongs at this level. You can dismiss all thoughts that the first hundred was a fluke and just settle down a bit.

The BCCI has no plan, full stop. Things happen and the board only looks to multiply the financial gains.

It need not have been this way. India could have learnt a thing or two from what England and Australia have done. Off the field we look to dominate the cricketing landscape like the two once did, but can't we borrow a thing or two from what they have done on the field?

It’s one of the great sadness of our time that starry-eyed producers have an obsession for employing men (at a rumoured salary of £600,000 per year for some of the Sky commentators), who once played international cricket, as if this achievement alone guarantees not only a suitable voice for long-term broadcasting but a good grasp of the language too. Occasionally, this is achieved.

Back in Australia I'm going to take up baseball umpiring, just as a hobby. I'm not seeking to go up the MLB level! I just want to experience what it will be like in another game that I have great passion for, to see what the ball is like when it's coming towards me instead of going away from me. I have a book planned too - I know what I want to write about and I am keen to do it myself. I think I could write something entertaining, factual and a little bit provocative and thought provoking as well.

John Arlott, as he often would, made a telling and melancholic point about Geoffrey. 'He had,' Arlott said, 'a lonely career'. That is true, but in essence the great batsmen are alone, or at least they are when they bat. He is, in his quirky way, less alone now. I'm glad I saw him play.

The World Cup is the only one-day tournament that really counts and the next one is almost four years away. From the team that played overnight, Ricky Ponting (36), Mike Hussey (36), David Hussey (34), Brett Lee (34) and possibly Doug Bollinger (30) won't make the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. If the selectors are serious about building for the future, why aren't players like Shaun Marsh, Callum Ferguson, David Warner, Aaron Finch, James Pattinson and John Hastings in the one-day team?

There are signs of evolution in Cook's batting. Increasingly he cracks the ball through extra-cover, hitherto a bit of a no-go area. Off the back foot he hits in that direction with surprising power and a vertical bat. Moreover the cover drive now looks a much more natural shot for him. After about four hours at the crease he indulges himself with it.