The Surfer

Perhaps responsibility will be his making. Until then the middle-order man had been singularly unimpressive. Convinced that the pitch was a stinker, and inclined to voice his opinions even in the presence of youngsters, he had lashed away with the bat in a manner unbecoming a senior batsman. Happily Mike Hussey was not as easily cowed or else the Ashes might already be back in England's safekeeping. A leader cannot afford to give any sign of despondency.

When things aren’t going right, people start talking about you, and you have to face a lot of criticism. All your extra-curricular activities are related to your game and it is very upsetting. But the way we survive in international cricket is to work hard, focus on your game, focus on the process. Getting up doing the same routine, staying around quality people helps. I get a lot of support from my family and my friends from the Indian cricket team. These things have helped me a lot to go through this year

Hussey's innings was a lesson in application, courage and execution. In truth he only played two shots with any regularity, the extra-cover drive and the pull, but he played them well and often. Of his 14 boundaries, eight came with pulls and four with off-drives. These strokes counterpoint each other admirably because they indicate that runs can be scored off both feet and on both sides of the wicket.

By arriving a few days before the start of the campaign the Indians have reduced their chances of toppling their hosts. They are not playing a bunch of ne'er do wells but the second-ranked side in the world, and a team eager for an execution. Moreover the sides are competing for the title recently vacated by an Australia line-up that had ruled for 15 years and is now suffering a partial eclipse.

Johnson and Ryan Harris did conspicuously well in creating a first-innings lead but the wellbeing created by their performances was quickly enough diminished by fresh evidence that the Australian captain Ricky Ponting and his number two Michael Clarke are currently operating as though they have lost all confidence in what they are doing.

Landed with very positive thoughts and I was determined... Come blows, bruises... I was ready to face everything and there was no fear... Even if it meant dying in pursuing the goal I’d set myself, so be it. My mindset was such that I had to be successful, that I would return home with runs against my name.

It’s going to be tough, but if our quicks stay fit, then South Africa’s batsmen will find themselves under pressure ... If there’s a worry, it’s that we haven’t played a warm-up match... The coach (Gary Kirsten) and (captain Mahendra Singh) Dhoni should’ve insisted on one. I’m surprised why that wasn’t done.

Australia's brave new world bore a stark resemblance to the bad old world. Far from rejuvenating a flagging campaign as had been hoped, the newcomers flopped and within hours the team's position had become dire. Not that the established players were any better, hanging their bats out to dry in the manner of a washerwoman on a Monday morning. Once again it was left to the middle order and lower ranks to save the day.

The malaise filters down to the states, where the money sloshing around in this fiscally professional era means all sorts of appointees have to justify their positions and feel the most appropriate way is with silverware. So journeyman cricketers are recycled, clogging up a domestic competition which can no longer provide enough quality replacements for a regenerating side.

England will have to buck history if they are to triumph here on a pitch which is the antithesis of anything they experience at home. But, then, they have been turning their noses up at history from the moment they arrived here and nothing that has happened since England's famous victory at Adelaide suggests that Australia can halt the smooth English passage towards the most comprehensive of all Ashes victories

Test cricket could be about to go through some tough times. In recent years the popularity and quality of the game has always been on the up but I worry we may be about to see it take a dip. The reason is that the sport has lost so many of its best players

T.E. Srinivasan is perhaps one such unsung hero. The art of batsmanship ran in his veins. To him it was a natural process, yet he played only one Test.