The Surfer

"The committee should look at the bigger picture. All investigations till now are independent silos. One module each in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi. They have to be put together. All leads related to the names in the sealed envelope should be followed."

As the overnight drizzle dried and the sun broke through, the captain underwent a series of examinations and drills to make sure he was fit to resume an innings that had already served as inspiration to his teammates, and a stirring rallying cry to his country. In the end, Clarke maintains the decision of whether or not he could resume his innings was simple. "I had no choice," he says matter-of-factly. "I had to go and bat.

There might be an argument for moral relativism; that given the pressures they face, professionals should play to different standards than the rest. But this, it seems, is just a way of saying that professionals' conduct can be less ethical than others'. And there is a difference between what has become accepted and what is right.

"It helps them to almost feel that they are part of the community they want to be a part of," said Deenu Rajaratnam, the Sydney league manager for Last Man Stands, which runs the global T20 competition.

Others take things further still. Duck seemed so portentous to Steve James that he refused to eat it, and wouldn't even let his children have a rubber one to play with in the bath, until after his career was over. He sympathised with Neil McKenzie, who developed an obsession that meant he would go out to bat only when all the toilet seats were down, and even went through a phase of taping his bat to the ceiling because his team-mates had once done that to him on a day when he scored a century.

You can recognise cliques. There are two kinds: the one that can be positive and the destructive one. The destructive ones try to marginalise others in the team. Naturally we don't want any of them ... and luckily there aren't any in the team. Look, there will be guys who have their close friends: maybe they like the same music, movies or whatever. There's no harm there ... actually it's healthy to have somebody to relate to. And if mutual respect still exists within the team then what more do you want? The team is in a good space and to keep it like that will be one of the challenges, because cancers can develop, with a few losses here and there. It's not just the captain's responsibility ... it's the players, the coach, the management.

The doldrums of the '90s must give way to the genesis of a new fate. The ingredients are all there. Younger, fitter players have been proving their international credentials over the past couple of years, and some prodigal talent is bubbling under the surface. Only a catalyst is required. Just as the men went from being a one man batting line up to a team with a big three and a big four, the women have the quality to find themselves similarly positioned.

In the words of Sir Donald Bradman: "If not, why is the provision there which enables the bowler to run him out? By backing up too far or too early, the non-striker is very obviously gaining an unfair advantage." If it's good enough for the Don, it should be good enough for Alastair Cook. It's England who should apologise.

Broad looks almost shocked again. How did he feel amid such raw animosity? "I just went 'Wow - that's 50,000 people properly booing me'. It ruffled me and I bowled a no-ball with my first delivery. I also slung one down leg side in that over. So I must admit I was shaken by it.