The Surfer

Having experience of England in the subcontinent for more than two decades, including their abysmal showing in the 1996 World Cup, their biggest failing has been their under-utilisation of the Powerplays. With that premise, the focus inevitably shifted to picking a top three best-set to remedy that. After a lengthy discussion, we settled on Steven Davies, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, with Matt Prior as back-up opener.

The argument against Strauss was centered on the likely sluggish nature of the pitches and the difficulty they would present to someone most comfortable scoring his runs square of the wicket.You also need to be able to put pace on the shot with a wristy flick or an artful bottom hand, something Strauss only really possesses when cutting.

Players are not dumb; they usually have a shrewd idea who is pulling his weight in the team and who is not. Years after Mohammad Azharuddin was implicated in the scandal, a player told me: "I knew there was something funny going on, but I had no idea what." His response was to withdraw deeper into himself and not ask embarrassing questions.

That is why when a player does speak up, it must be seen not as ratting on teammates but serving the higher cause of the sport. This means that he should be guaranteed the support of his captain, his officials and the media. The captain and the officials follow protocol, the former passing on the matter to the latter, but the media are out of anybody's control.

I have not done many new things in terms of my bowling, I have just done what any normal guy may do. I just bowled a lot of balls in the nets, and I practised very hard. And I made sure I did my work right.

Whatever happened in Sydney was an instance of making a mountain out of a molehill. They do not like it when people say things about their players, but they are probably the worst when it comes to saying things or doing things to other players. But I am not like those who can listen to abuses and keep quiet. I have come to play, not get abused. If they abuse me, I will give it back to them.

West Indies cricket has always talked about testing players for their fitness before a series or before a tour, and it has always had doctors available to whom the players should go for medical examinations.

The history of West Indies cricket, however, is filled with players who have not attended those fitness tests, players who failed those fitness tests and players who blatantly refused to do their medicals.

No one, not that I can remember, has ever been penalised for refusing to do the tests or the medicals, for failing the test and the medicals and that is the gospel.

The Fifth Test at the SCG in 2007 was the last time England picked him. But that wasn't the last of it. Read was singled out for criticism by Fletcher in a score-settling memoir. Contrary to Marsh's assessment, Fletcher thought Read's keeping was flawed, and his batting lacked defensive technique. Much worse was the implication that Read was too timid mentally to be a Test cricketer.

It is clear that both snooker and cricket (and presumably all other sports at some level) have problems with spot-fixing and match-fixing. If there was no problem, neither of the News of the World’s stings could have been executed to such an extent. However, if the purpose of these investigations is to uphold sporting integrity, judgement should be left until the allegations have been conclusively proven. The line between an investigation in the public interest and circulation-boosting entrapment is fine and the Higgins case shows how damaging it can be if the public is cast as judge and jury before time.

Let us hope ongoing and future allegations of sporting misdemeanours can be judged soberly by those professionally charged with doing so. If these are brought to light by investigative journalism, praise should be lavished on the investigation at the conclusion of a fair trial. Until then, however shameful the circumstantial evidence and sensational headlines appear, the presumption of innocence deserves to rule.

“I kept thinking, 'What's happened here?''' The Ashes had been close. A session lost at The Oval, another at Lord's, and the urn was gone. ''I read the media, and saw there were people questioning my decisions and accusing me of not knowing what I was doing,'' Nielsen said. ''I can get a bit emotional, and it was hard to focus on the big picture. I was trying to work out why, how, what had I done wrong? I questioned the decisions I'd made, and wondered if I could have done better.”

But, leaving the ECB's legendary moral rectitude aside, a ban would be a terrible mistake on its part. Twitter is one of the best marketing tools an under-rated England team has going for them right now. Graeme Swann and James Anderson's on-off "bromance" has been a cracking storyline and frankly deserves some sort of Bafta recognition, if not a full-blown film adaptation starring Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. They have 60,000 supporters each, which is 57,000 more than any of the counties have at their average gate. Tim Bresnan, the pair's oft-maligned stooge – the Karl Pilkington to their Gervais and Merchant – has 20,000 followers, and he's not even in the Test team.

Davies was one of Surrey's legion of signings this season. There were those who feared that such a quiet and unassuming chap would find the move too much. Worcestershire, quiet, sleepy, rural Worcestershire seemed to fit his personality rather more than the city slickers at Surrey.

Organisers expect it to take time to truly get off the ground so perhaps we shouldn't be too swift to judge, but if people don't tune in this year then it would appear that ESPN Star Sports, in putting up $1 billion for 10 years of TV rights, have paid over the odds.

Nevertheless it's money that cricket needs, so the three founding members need the tournament to work. There were some memorable moments last year, but aside from Trinidad and Tobago warming the hearts and a few youngsters such as Rilee Rossouw showing their potential there was a distinct lack of overall value. It's difficult to see that changing over the next few weeks, and if it doesn't then a rethink is in order. Twenty20 for the sake of it can only go on for so long before the bubble bursts.