The Surfer

When I eventually finish, seven miles later, I am so far behind the group and public who have joined in for the last four miles that everyone has almost packed up for the journey to the next leg in Winchester. There is just the sight of Botham sitting in a chair, feet up, packed with ice, and glass of wine by his side, talking to the public who are clearly so excited to meet him. No matter. It has been a truly inspirational four hours. Botham shows no signs of slowing down.

There shouldn’t be an iron curtain when it comes to information on team and league ownership in professional sports leagues. Indeed, the IPL is one of the only global sports leagues about which so little is known when it comes to the stakeholders. Until now this was not really an issue; but transparency in ownership is a must, as is accountability of the league and confidence in its conforming with legal and ethical considerations.

"Obviously I don't want to get overstep the mark, so it's something I'm aware of. But I certainly don't want to lose my passion for the game and I don't want to be tamed down. I have to be in that sort of bubble to get the best out of myself. When I watch my favourite teams play other sports, I think of Wayne Rooney who throws himself about and is aggressive and passionate, and people like Martin Johnson who used to get stuck in."

Kumble isn’t as subtle as Warne. His aggression is naked, he sets high standards for himself and his team-mates, and isn’t afraid to turn on the heat in public, never mind if the recipient is a greenhorn or a former international skipper. His commitment is a hundred percent every single minute, and he won’t ask anything of his mates that he himself wouldn’t do. He believes in doing the hard yards himself – such as taking the new-ball against the likes of Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden in crucial games – and benefits from the respect and admiration of his peers and opponents alike.

At 5ft 5in, Taylor, whose father, Steve, is a former National Hunt jockey, is easily the smallest English player on the circuit, but he regards his lack of inches as an advantage. He enjoys facing the fast men, who find their short-pitched balls either fly harmlessly over his head or are cut and pulled with brutal force. Bowling to Taylor at one end and the 6ft 10in Will Jefferson at the other must be the equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.

A top player speaks about the effect on their body clock. “We return to the hotel from the match around midnight and get ready for the party. Most of these parties go on till the wee hours. When the players get up around afternoon, it’s time to catch a flight to the next destination,” he says. “There are days when the game is over in three hours while the party goes on for six hours. Off-the-field fatigue is more than the tiredness on field.”