The Surfer

His game has grown immensely since he took on the captaincy. When he started in the England team Strauss was lauded as a batsman who succeeded because he knew his limitations and played within them. He had two prize scoring shots, the pull and the cut. But against India he seemed to have no limits. A chase that looked all but impossible became eminently achievable while he was at the crease. He said afterwards that during the interval his team talk amounted to nothing more than "this is an unbelievably flat wicket and we can chase this". Easy to say, much harder to do, or so the theory goes. But Strauss made it look as simple as shelling peas.

Cricket is trying to present itself as a bright, shiny, 21st-century product, but the sport can still be appalling at logistics and organization, particularly at any level below the very highest. Putting the responsibility for distributing tickets to a global event in the hands of local bodies is an elementary tactical error, as is making such a pathetically small number of them available to the public. The losers, as ever, are the ordinary fans. If India's cricketing authorities keep treating them like this, sooner or later their patience is going to run out.

As a contest it was top drawer, but really it was just poor cricket triumphing over even poorer cricket. Ireland had their chance for some vertical mobility in this competition but blew it conclusively. Bangladesh after all the hype and hoopla about its team and its supposed prowess, stood the risk of being sued for deception.

The batting power play is an innovation that has rejuvenated the 50-over game but does not solve boredom seeping in during the compiling stage of an innings from overs 21 to 36.

For much of the recent past, I have blamed over-confidence or, more accurately, a lack of personal understanding of what key players are actually capable of. But on Friday I saw indecision, inaccuracy, hesitancy and recklessness, all symptoms of doubtful minds.

Choosing mythical elevens is always contentious, but let me say no more about this team and instead go about picking an eleven composed of those Indians whose own careers ended before the era of one-day internationals. For earlier generations had also produced attacking batsmen, wicket-taking or restrictive bowlers, and fine fieldsmen. What then might a Dream Team of Golden Oldies look like?

These countries have not markedly improved over the years. If they had, more power to them.

There will not be any arrogance about the bowlers on Sunday. As for their shoddy fielding, that is harder to explain. As a coach it is something of a mystery – the fielding drills don't change, the intensity levels at practice don't change, but the performance does. England's error count should be a lot lower against India, because the players will be switched on from the start and will be fully aware of how costly any mistakes will be.

Mike Atherton was usually quite controlled after getting out but on one occasion, after a particularly poor decision in a Test in Port Elizabeth, his temper got the better of him. It was England's 1995-96 tour of South Africa and the players were constantly weighed to gauge how much fluid we should take after a long period in the field. Because of this, a set of scales were always by the dressing room door.

We could tell Atherton wasn't happy as he walked into the changing room and moments later we heard a loud crash and twang. We knew the scales had copped the brunt of his frustration. After a couple of minutes the silence was broken by a slightly embarrassed request call to Wayne Morten, the England physiotherapist. "Wayne, Wayne," came the weak call, "could you come here please?" It turned out that Atherton had booted the scales so hard that he had broken the big toe on his right foot.

And yet, despite all these improvements, the people at the top of Zimbabwe cricket have not changed. In this respect, at least, cricket really is a microcosm of Zimbabwe, for the sport is still governed by Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, a pair of deeply discredited plutocrats who have been accused of embezzling International Cricket Council money.