The Surfer

The time has come to ditch the pessimism. Australians are no good at introspection. England are not exactly a pack of cards but they're not a fortress either. Breaches can be found. Strauss commands a middling team with a poor away record. These rivals are fourth and fifth in the rankings. Consider those further down the list. Zimbabwe are under the yoke of tyranny, Bangladesh are fighting poverty and inexperience, West Indies do not exist having endured a cricketing collapse, Pakistan are in disgrace and New Zealand think mostly about rugby. Anyone below that lot ought to take up rounders.

The past few months must have set off the alarm bells in the halls of power as to whether Michael Clarke is still heir to the throne. His form has dipped in all formats with a slight reprieve recently in India in the one-day arena. His class as a player at Test level and his ability to get the job done in ODIs is not in question, but his role in the Twenty20 team has reached embarrassing proportions. Many good judges have known for some time he was not suited to this format, now blind Freddie knows it as well.

You can imagine the scene. James Franklin has scored another hundred for Wellington, a national selector knocks on the dressing-room door and tells him he is required up the road immediately.

His Firebirds team-mates pat him on the back, watch him rush out the door and then all think to themselves "for God's sake Franky, get a big one".

This is the age of the silver spoon. Players have never been better looked after. There was a point early in the recent tour of India where Australia had more support staff than players. Players not only have personal managers but within the Australian framework have doctors, physios, psychologists, nutritionists, batting coaches, bowling coaches ... you name it. It's got to the stage where players have almost become over-managed. Many players lack the ability to think for themselves off the field and that can flow into their on-field psyche.

The only way they will fill the stands for a non-India cricket game is when there are cheerleaders on field, superstars dancing in the stands and when they are presented with a format that guarantees a “thrill a minute”. They will beg, borrow and steal to get tickets for these games. They will get insulted and assaulted to get into the stadium. They will use dirty urinals and go without water during the game. But throw an invite to sprawl on the lawns and enjoy a Ranji game for free and there will be no takers.Maybe, Ranji’s informality breeds contempt.

It is now very hard for Mashrafe to concentrate on the additional responsibility of captaincy when he is consistently tormented by injuries. It would be great to see Mashrafe bowling again with full rhythm and everyone in the country prays for his good fortune. But the growing belief is that he needs first to concentrate on prolonging his career before he is entrusted with the additional burden of captaincy.

I first met Stanford in February 2008, three months before the ECB signed its deal with him. A friend was working at a consultancy who had been doing some work for Stanford's firm, and he had heard word that Stanford's people were looking to make contact with some English cricket journalists. He put them in touch with me. A few weeks later I flew out to Antigua along with three other journalists, two English and one Australian. The trip was entirely at Stanford's expense.

The truth is that somebody needs to say it: Australia are simply not very good anymore. They are losing for fun at the moment. They are the new England. Even grade cricket is said to be going soft. Just like we used to in the Eighties and Nineties, they now seem to pick players out of a hat. Last Sunday they played a T20 international with players from only two states. They lost. In the past two years 45 players have represented Australia in Tests, one-day internationals and T20s. And they’ve only got six domestic teams! No wonder they’ve just sacked Merv Hughes as a selector.

If the sun shines there is little lateral movement in Australia. Batsmen are more likely to be undermined by extra bounce, which may be why we have sent what must be the tallest ever English pace attack to Australia – Stuart Broad, Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett are 6ft 5in and over. For batsmen this means that pronounced footwork is not quite so essential; there is not such a need to lunge forward to stifle sideways movement. But for batsmen and bowlers it is not as if they have suddenly been transported to Mars. The same basics still apply.

The tournament’s disconnect with cricket fans has never been more apparent than in the last three when the IPL — marketed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as an international sports league — has brought with it packed stadiums and hotel lobbies brimming with fans waiting to get a glimpse of their favourite stars ...

The new season of the tournament, which is now 76 years old, started yesterday. Newspapers gave it full-page coverage, opting for the retro chic because nothing of more importance was going on. There was even a match on TV. Things were looking good for Ranji cricket after a long time, but only from a distance. At the Bandra-Kurla ground, where 39-time champions Mumbai started their campaign against Saurashtra, there was neither a sense of history nor a single fan.

Signing someone of Saker's credentials was a coup, his Australian knowledge a massive bonus, his desire for the job evident in the way he paid his own way to England for an interview rather than use a conference call. Equally evident was his subsequent delight in living here. He is an anglophile, his family enthusiastically absorbed into life, close to Stratford-upon-Avon and Flower. He loves his pubs, English ale and cricket chatter.

A transfer of allegiance, especially at this time – an Australian helping England retain the Ashes in Australia – was never a stumbling block. He sang God Save The Queen, he says, as lustily as anyone when England played Australia in the T20 final in Barbados, and not just for show. He is one of the England team in the strongest sense.

We are too conservative and too predictable and Smith inclines to captaincy-by-numbers. This doesn't matter when you are playing a demoralised Zimbabwe, but it might matter in a World Cup quarterfinal.

In a World Cup knockout match it will be tense and the elephant in the dressing room will be getting bigger by the over. In such a situation you need to be brave and adventurous rather than allow a painful fear of losing to dictate your choices.