The Surfer

Pakistan is in disarray. Cricket is a victim of forces beyond its control. Years might pass before international teams are allowed back. At such times it is important to show solidarity. A smile can achieve more than a hundred scowls.

Every cricketing country ought to reconsider its response. Over the years Pakistan has contributed enormously to the game and it remains one of the powerhouses. Numerous English clubs sign professionals from the Punjab. The national team has been considerably strengthened by settlers from Pakistan.

Australia has just added Usman Khawaja to its ranks. Now cricket needs to show Pakistan that it cares, and to that end ought to put its mind to staging relief matches to raise extra funds in this hour of need. Its not right to pick and choose between disasters.

"Freddie Flintoff was one of the most talented cricketers I saw during the past 10 years," Ponting said. "However, I can't help thinking he should have achieved more than he did."

Cook does not seem the type to read motivational books, a point in his favour if so, but a growing sense of need brought motivation nevertheless. Before play began, he did something very English in its politeness and handed around a box of biscuits and perhaps vowed at that moment he was not about to bat like a custard cream.

This was all about Cook’s mindset more than his technique. Yes, he wasn’t looking back at his bat in his stance, which was a good sign and one that showed he wasn’t worrying too much about his technique. But the key was that he had cleared his mind and was determined to be positive.

The ICC reportedly intervened to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Board to apologise after Sehwag was left stranded on 99. They have conveniently stayed mum on Strauss and England's recent abuse of the referral system. There is a thing called gamesmanship and a thing called sportsmanship. It's a fine line between the two and incidents in London and Dambulla this week have highlighted just how unclear that line is.

This was the day Pakistan rediscovered their mojo and their MoYo, as Yousuf is referred to in internet circles. He batted for only two and a half hours and scored just 56 but, for the first time in this series, Pakistan bossed the stage and England's bowlers looked a bit fed-up – no bad thing with the Ashes round the corner.

Changing name and religion did not have a noticeably adverse effect on Muhammad Ali's career and the batsman formerly known as Yousuf Youhana has been an even more formidable player since making the same alterations towards the end of 2005.

Yousuf is not just a good player, he is a great one. He is right up there with Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq – Miandad may well be the finest of them but Yousuf has the higher average.

To old-schoolers of cricket who count themselves as partial Twenty20 cynics, at least, Graeme Smith’s announcement on Wednesday that he was stepping down as national captain in that arena would hardly have got pulses doof-doofing at a raised rate. It was tempting, certainly on the part of this writer, to equate it with notice that Mr GC Smith no longer intended having chopped banana atop his corn flakes for breakfast.

In slightly more serious vein, though, I would not be so foolhardy as to under-value the significance of the move by the big left-handed “Biff”.

The tragic humanitarian crisis in Pakistan caused by floods, the continuing mindless carnage in Afghanistan, the snowballing crisis in Kashmir and a dozen other things that sane, rational human beings might have considered serious enough to warrant print space and air time have had to compete desperately, but mostly unequally, with the l'affaire Randiv ...

Just as in life, where you and I obey laws rather selectively — who among us has not driven 10 km above the speed limit, or perhaps after a few drinks at an impromptu celebration? Both of these are against the law, and we know it, but don’t pay heed, not merely because the punishments, if caught, are relatively mild, and because peer pressure does not even come to bear. It’s as though it’s okay to break certain rules. In cricket, it’s much the same.

When a player is in a poor run of form, critics on the outside will always wonder why you are standing by him. The answer is often in the contribution he makes to the team behind the scenes. This is the situation England are in with Cook. The management seem to see him as a positive influence on the dressing room. When some players hit a poor patch of form they can become so self-involved that they do not realise the negative influence they are having on the rest of the team. Others will make an effort to stay positive in public but will never quite put their hearts into it. You can hear in a player's voice whether he really means what he says. It is a rare and valuable team member who can genuinely encourage and push other players along, even when he is on a poor run himself. I assume Cook is like that.

This country produces some of the world's most richly gifted cricketers but their ability to self-destruct is even greater than that to detonate their opponents. They present madness in mime – earlier this month the former captain Aamer Sohail described Pakistan cricket as a "basket case".

Butt confounds this caricature; he is neither brilliantly talented nor chronically disruptive. He is, though, an impressive young man, and he speaks with a fluency and a quiet dignity in the middle of the wreckage of his country's cricket.