The Surfer

England are a very good side, they have done well everywhere. The conditions will be helpful, but not getting carried away by the bounce and the swing, like I did on my last tour in 2007, will be the key. It took me two Tests to understand how to bowl in England, and the experience of playing a season for Warwickshire will be to my advantage. One thing about England is that the conditions are helpful but if you don't hit the right areas you won't get wickets. If you can swing the ball with pace, nothing like it. I learnt that from Allan Donald and Ashley Giles, who were my coaches at Warwickshire.

Few West Indian bowlers have managed to bowl with the control that Sammy has displayed in his career so far. And the West Indian skipper provides one element that has been lacking drastically in bowling attacks from the Caribbean ever since Courtney Walsh hung up his boots. He bowls long spells, rarely short of eight or nine overs at a stretch, and despite not being as incisive as others before him, the lanky St Lucian can choke up the scoring. Not only has he led from the front so far in the series, having bowled the most number of overs, with 29 maidens he has also kept one end quiet, allowing his aggressive bowling partners the opportunity to attack.

O'Brien doesn't want to be a poster child for depression. He doesn't want to be a martyr, a role model or remotely like Kirwan. He doesn't want your pity either.But in talking today, on his 35th birthday no less, he hopes that his message might reach out to someone who, like him, has put off seeking the help they so desperately need.

"I don't want to be one of those statistics. I don't want this to fester away either. I've never been quite that low but I've certainly been on the way to being that low. I don't want to deal with that. I don't want my wife and my daughter to deal with me like that.I want to be sweet. I want to enjoy this. I don't want to miss out on what we've got."

When the Argus investigation into what has gone wrong with Australian cricket finishes its work, it will surely conclude that the pyramid that has served the sport so well for more than a century is crumbling. In its place is that structure so beloved of modern bureaucrats: the silo. But on a ledge halfway up, someone has built a glittering, Vegas-style edifice, catching all eyes. This is how the cricket landscape looks to many who work in it.

Perhaps these guys failed to read my mindset then. I had a fairly new combination with me as a surprise captain. As against that, our opposition was as mighty as ever in WI, led by Sir Gary Sobers. I planned to curb their strokes and try their patience, how can anyone call it defensive tactics? Sobers and all others were known for going for their strokes all the time, but they got restless if they couldn’t get going. If I were a defensive captain, would I have enforced the follow-on in the first Test?

It took courage for a 33-year-old to speak out against his own administrators. Sangakkara could easily have kept his thoughts to himself, taken the money and the IPL contract and the advertising deals and the adoration that accompanies cricketing greatness in the region. Evidently he is made of sterner stuff. Along the way he did outstanding service to his country, his cricket community and the game.

Taylor's personal story is an interesting tale of how she used her hyperintelligence to plan a path to the top of her game. She is 35 now, and says she is creaking a bit. The gym is used more for rehab than training and her body, as much as a recognition that there is a future career to plan as well, has told her it is time to go. When she was 21, though, her cricket lay before her. She was a high-flying Oxford maths graduate, singled out for a lucrative career in IT. Instead, as a fine hockey player, but a batsman of no great distinction and a sometime wicketkeeper, she announced her intention to transform her game.

Perhaps being named as 50-over captain, together with the questioning of his right to be in charge, has forced him to expand his game. But, so far, he has risen to the challenge very impressively and that should not be a shock to us. Cook is a very bright bloke, he’s got a serious Test batting record and he’s shown throughout his career that he is an incredibly quick learner. What’s happened in this one-day series against Sri Lanka has merely been an extension of that.