The Surfer

“Test cricket is always going to be the ultimate. My ambition is to play in all three formats. Next year, I’m going to play more first-class cricket. I decided not to go to the T20 tournament in South Africa because I wanted to play first-class cricket in the Caribbean. The Sri Lankan league is off now, but I pulled out of that as well.”

You sense that nothing Pollard says will sway his most ardent critics. But for a man accused of destroying Test cricket, he holds a suspiciously strong desire to play it. For someone castigated as a pariah, a philistine, a soldier of fortune, he is in reality something far simpler: just a cricketer. Just a family man, striving to earn a living.

The gifts these three share – a dreamlike quality of composure when well-set, the ability to transform a commonplace shot such as a leg-glance into a thing of charm and a handsome ease at piercing the infield that keeps the scoreboard moving at a pace that perplexes the assumptions of bowler and spectator alike – link the game to a past when guile was the equal of force.

How is this Indian team so comfortable with confidently foreseeing the future? Sure, run-scoring was hard and six and over was close to impossible but haven’t these players been around long enough to know that it takes precisely one over to change the dynamic of the whole match?

I find that the most disappointing. This is a beautiful game because of the possibilities it throws up. And even without giving those possibilities a chance, Dhoni pulled the plug.

It is a complex interplay between cultural and natural factors. But above all, it is because the very essence of spin bowling is victory by deceptive means—and the intellectual agility at the core of that is in turn the very essence of Indian civilisation.

The voice is mellifluous, the enunciation beautifully crisp. Tendulkar provides riveting company not because he seeks to drain his statements of any controversy but because he affects to care about their expression.

Do not suppose for a second, either, that he is unbothered by his looming milestone. In March, prior to reaching 85 during a febrile World Cup semi-final against Pakistan in Mohali, he was almost caught twice as the tension bit.

English county cricket is well organised and well-coached – and perhaps too much so. No sign on the horizon of an unorthodox 'crackerjack’ bowler who can surprise opponents, like Lasith Malinga or Muttiah Muralitharan: and if Afro-Caribbean cricket dies, another source of England’s potential supply is eliminated.

Devon Malcolm, with his express pace, had this unorthodox quality. Afro-Caribbeans, like him, have taken almost 600 Test wickets for England and scored almost 8,000 Test runs. A fine XI could be made from those who represented England and England A: Michael Carberry, Wilf Slack, Mark Butcher, Roland Butcher, Mark Alleyne, Paul Weekes, Keith Piper, Chris Lewis, Phillip DeFreitas, Dean Headley, and Malcolm himself.

His batting - in terms of both speed and productivity - has been virtually beyond reproach. And if he has been occasionally reluctant to slap down one or two examples of indiscipline within the English ranks, he has handled himself effectively. In general, Cook has faced his challenges quietly, with the air of a man who has carefully considered all of the consequences. For he knows, better than most, just how bruising those consequences can be.

He has had a fantastic series, and not just with the bat. He has shown a calm head in the field and I liked the way he felt confident, bold and flexible enough to take the batting powerplay early.

The harsh reality is that the speed of the cameras that collect all the essential information to enable ball tracking systems, varies substantially based on cost. These cameras are the engine-room of the process. They range from capturing 25 frames per second at the low end to 250 frames per second at the top end. The faster the cameras, the more accurate the information obtained and the less chance of error.

England have recovered well to take this series, but the back half of the batting is a knot they must still unravel. Bell clearly has to come in early or not at all. Kieswetter would be a more intimidating presence at six, but a straight swap would leave Bell and Cook as too refined an opening pair. So the permutations flicker. Three stately Test-honed batsmen into one top six won't fit. And in the end – like the open stands at Old Trafford's Brian Statham end – something is simply going to have to go by the time England continue their own rebuild against India later in the summer.

Yes, even though they prevailed yesterday, England must improve in subcontinental conditions, but that has been the case for some considerable time. They will have plenty of opportunities this winter against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Fletcher's secret knowledge