The Surfer

But while Pollard, and Chris Gayle, and Dwayne Bravo hit their ‘DLF maximums’ in front of vaguely interested crowds, West Indies play their Test series against Pakistan in bare, listless stadiums. Even if it is not what it was, at least the IPL can claim to be not half as desultory as much of Test cricket has been made by its administrators.

To become an overnight success, the IPL institution desperately needed a fairytale, an ashes to glory story. And Warne, a cricketer, poker pro, rock star, hair expert, newsmaker and an alleged sex offender -all rolled into one - gave it to them. The world will never know the path IPL would've charted had Warne's glorious brush with leadership not unfolded like a soap opera in the first season, but one thing is for sure - the world, and the IPL, is richer with the experience.

In restricting Pakistan’s first innings to 160, gaining a lead of 66 – worth double in such circumstances – Bishoo was capably supported by Rampaul’s controlled aggression that was again evident in his two immediate wickets yesterday and the nagging medium-pace of the much derided captain Darren Sammy.

A lot more hard work lies ahead this morning if they are to convert their advantage into the rare victory the game in these parts so badly needs for a host of obvious reasons.

And the likes of Clive Lloyd, Ian Bishop, Mark Taylor, Gary Kirsten, Ravi Shastri and Tim May certainly fall into that category. As ever, though, the problem will come next month in persuading the mandarins on the ICC’s chief executives’ committee and Board to adopt these proposals.

“It was a blessing in disguise to be dropped,” he admits, “I thought I could manage it mentally, but I couldn’t. This winter I have matured as a person and as a cricketer. When you play for England and do well, people start throwing things at you. That life is fantastic, but I think I lost track of the reality of scoring runs and taking catches, of what my job really was.”

But the best thing about all this was that it united Pakistan into a single team, one nation! We played, prayed and cried as one Pakistan. There were sermons in mosques and churches where people gathered to pray for the match. On television, celebrities from different fields would gather and watch the show live. My brother got a free Coke from a grocery store manager because Sachin, the famous Indian player, made a big mistake while my brother was in the store. I was invited to a Quranic recitation gathering called “khatam” at a friend’s place, held in honor of the Pakistani Team! But I didn’t go.

Even after the match, when I visited a hospital in Peshawar, I saw a note displayed in the reception area. It praised the cricket team for uniting Pakistanis and said that the team Captain, Shahid Afridi, ought not to be sorry for the defeat. I noticed many passing men who’d look at the note and then smile. For a country divided into sects, religions, provinces, regions, and political parties, this is a big achievement. It rekindled a hope in me… I realized that if we can come together for cricket, we can come together over other issues as well. If we united to deal with Pakistan ’s major problems, we may find a solution to them.

It is a mental battle and it was the same in cricket. I tried to bat time and with control at about 80 per cent. New Zealand Cricket is struggling with that at the moment - we don't pace our innings. For me the key to batting was being patient and the end of the innings was the finish line.

From the Ashes and Fire in Babylon will duke it out for the title of most successful British cricket film of all time, if only because they are pretty well the only British cricket films. That they should be on general release in the same month suggests at worst a bubble, at best a movement, or perhaps simply a sense of a tenacious mini-genre beginning to bite. Sport, for so long a bystander in the multiplex foyer, might finally be about to take its seat in the main screen.

From cricketer of genius, who pioneered leg-theory bowling, led Warwickshire to their first County Championship title and played a key role in a legendary Ashes series victory, the rest of Foster's life was catastrophic. He died in a psychiatric hospital alone and touched by madness.

He was an undischarged bankrupt who had consorted with prostitutes and been implicated in the murder of one; he was estranged completely from his family and the prosperous high-street clothing store chain they ran; he had no friends in cricket; he probably had no friends in the world.

Strauss, who was presumably behind the move, makes his first appearance in the middle since returning from the World Cup.

Getting him back in the groove before the Test series begins in 12 days makes sense but so too does denying an inexperienced Sri Lanka side a preview of Lord’s, the venue for the second of the three Tests.

As the man whose England side holds the Ashes and as someone whose one-day goals have evaporated through retirement from that format, Strauss will be motivated to reaching the summit.