The Surfer

We all assumed that Wasim Akram was a once-in-a-lifetime bowler, but perhaps we were wrong. The most remarkable aspect of Pakistan’s first defeat of Australia in 15 years is that a relatively young and untried side has succeeded in the face of endless controversies.

So, Australia return with plenty of questions about the make-up of their side. They have to ask how can they improve the team. Is there anyone outside the squad who can come in and make it better? They have to look at their combination of bowlers and ask how they are going to take 20 wickets.

You can see Hampshire's point. Pietersen has already said very publicly and very pointedly that he will not be a Hampshire player next season. Their chairman, Rod Bransgrove, is a good, proud man of strong principles. He feels let down. He was miffed that the England and Wales Cricket Board would not permit Pietersen to speak at a Q&A session the night before the Australia one-day international at the Rose Bowl. He is hardly a friend or ally of ECB chairman, Giles Clarke.

The villain of the piece is not Murali himself. It's the International Cricket Council. The ICC stand alone in sport as a body who rewrote the laws of their game to suit one man.

Then last month, SBS reporter Manpreet Singh (no relation) aired a story about the life of Pooran Singh and the fact his ashes were still awaiting collection. The story made it to India and reporters tracked down Pooran's family in the village of Uppal Bhupa, near Jalandhar in Punjab. The family confirmed a telegram had been received in 1947 informing it of Pooran's death and that the nephews had received their inheritance. But they were too poor to come to Australia.

“It will be the right time to repay all my dues to the club which helped me and a number of others to play for India. It is a great institution, which produced many players for the country,” explains Vengsarkar, who spent 25 years with Dadar Union.

When bowling first in 2010, they have literally gone through the ceiling: conceding 309 runs per innings in six matches. In the dreadful Asia Cup campaign, the bowlers gave away 313 and 386 in consecutive games. And even when the batsmen have amassed 260, 250, 199 (in 30 overs) or even 296, scores that are far higher than Tigers' ODI average (226 runs), the bowlers failed to defend the total. Wickets, averages, runs per over and strike-rates have all taken a hammering this year.

Above all, what defined Murali is his smile - whether it came when employing the typical agricultural hoick over midwicket, or that extraordinarily blind pull shot that often used to get him out, or even while bowling: he would be smashed for six, and what you noticed was the wide smile, the enjoyment he took in every contest, even when he was being bested [among contemporary greats, Murali alone stood out for never giving a bested batsman a send-off; he reveled in the contest, but when he won, he accepted that triumph with a grace and humility bordering on the inhuman].

When Hirst and Rhodes famously "got 'em in singles", a spectator is said to have gnawed his way through the handle of his umbrella such was the tension. No brolly would have been safe yesterday. And what a roar must have echoed off the fort walls as Mahela Jayawardene plunged to pilfer the catch that sealed the innings and, as if it ever needed further defining, Muttiah Muralitharan's place in the pantheon. An 800th Test wicket, the final one of his final innings, with his last ball on the final day of a peerless career.

The grand farewell at Galle has overwhelmed her, but she seems sad this is Murali's last Test. "I have been watching each and every ball of this Test. I've been here day from morning to evening. He discussed his plans with me before making them public. I wanted him to carry on, but when we realized he had made up his mind there was nothing we could do about it. We wanted him to at least play the whole series, but he would have none of it. Once he has made up his mind he won't listen to anyone," she says, shaking her head.

"Murali never brings cricket or his troubles home, and I don't prod him. But this time he discussed. He said he wanted to give youngsters an opportunity and not hang on."