The Surfer

While there are no lengthy team meetings and strategy sessions analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition -- the computer most used is the one between Dhoni's ears -- there's a strong knowledge of what needs to be done to secure a win in any given game. Sports psychologists call this situational awareness, and it is this heightened ability to assess what needs to be done and then implementing plans that separates the consistent teams from the rest.

Shorn of their context, one-day games are a weaker offering. Put in the right ambience, they could be thrilling. It is a bit like the great violinist being ignored when he plays outside a subway station but being flattered with expensive tickets and applause when he plays in a theatre. Before writing an obituary we need to give the patient a good shot at survival.

He parked himself at the far end of the dining table. Brian Lara was in tow, hanging off Warne like he'd become best mates with the coolest kid at school. Warne spent the next few hours regaling all present with one anecdote after another, a charm offensive to do Bill Clinton proud. He was funny, revealing, open, honest, self-deprecating. Jokes were delivered at his own expense. What a jolly good fellow, and so said all of us.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s estimated earning of US$ 10 m of endorsement income over the last year is more than, according to Forbes, the top baseball players Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard’s, combined income. No wonder, Dhoni, the Indian skipper, is the top in the highest earning cricketer’ list of The Forbes published last month.

There has been limited-overs cricket played here at first-class level since 1963 and England have yet to win a major trophy. It does not stack up. But experience at county level does not translate into experience at international level. Put simply, almost all other international teams have played more one-day cricket. Whether the benchmark for an established player is 30 games or 50, the fact is that England cricketers have been deprived of competition. This latest series is what you get if that is the road you take.

Injuries then became a byword of their respective careers, particularly for Bond and Butler. While Bond's list of ailments resemble a medical almanac, Butler's inoperable back problems were the root cause of his frustrations. New Zealand had just beaten Australia in the inaugural Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium in December 2004 when Butler realised his pain was more than irritating.

Very few players will admit it on record, but one-day games outside of the World Cup scarcely get the blood pumping. That's not to say they don't take them seriously. It's just not that important. No one will retire and then lament the absence of a Singer/Natwest/Pepsi Series medal from the trophy cabinet. I'm sure Sunil Gavaskar regrets not being able to win a Test match in Pakistan. I doubt very much, though, if he loses sleep over the tri-series that India lost in Australia in 1985-86.

How Andrew Strauss must be tearing out his hair, still sticky, no doubt, with Ashes bubbly. His mantra since he took over in January has been one of personal responsibility: assess the situation and act accordingly. This has been mocked by those who point out, reasonably enough, that statements of the bleeding obvious should not be worshipped as timeless verities. Yet the principle has clearly not sunk in.

His one-day career is still in danger of stalling, just as his Test career did after an eye-catching debut brought only five further appearances. The trouble with Shah is that his fielding is ordinary, his running calamitous and his batting, though often brilliant, does not win enough matches. As one former England player said yesterday: "They like Owais because he hits the balls in unusual areas. Unfortunately his mind is in unusual areas too."

But artificial solutions will only make the game more confusing. You cannot play the 50-over game as a series of 25-over games and hope the spirit of Twenty20 will revive it. The survival of the sport depends on making the three formats distinct from one another. A Test match aspiring to be a 50-over contest or a Twenty20 aspiring to be a Test match is both confusing and unnecessary.