The Surfer

Ricky Ponting and ­Phillip Hughes. The only questions with these two are: is there any visible sign that age is ­beginning to diminish the powers of the greatest ­Australian batsman of this era (Ponting)? Can he continue to bat like that and get away with it at the highest level (Hughes)? Don't blink when this pair is at the crease.

Australia should win because it is more talented than England and the four players who will open the batting and bowling — Katich, Hughes, Johnson and Siddle — are stars. But if the events of the last nine months are anything to go by there is cause for concern. It hasn't been a good start in England: our swift banishment from the Twenty20 world championship was no less than we deserved. The selection and tactics for this unique form of the game were atrocious, yet in many ways it's been swept under the carpet as the focus switched to the Ashes.

"Clearly they were not thinking about the job in hand and, when I ran out Ponting, he totally lost the plot. He walked back to the pavilion and was shouting up at England coach Duncan Fletcher. The thing was, Ponting was playing really well. He could have got 150. Yet his reaction had an effect on the entire Aussie team and, maybe, the 2005 Ashes series. After the final Test at The Oval, though, Ponting was an absolute gent. He gave me a pair of signed boots and a signed picture. He is a fantastic captain and a fantastic cricketer. But it was a great few weeks for English cricket and the players then had a real party."

Perhaps, I venture provocatively, coaching won't come naturally. He wouldn't be the first sporting colossus to struggle to refine in others what to himself has always come instinctively. How easy, for example, does he find it to instruct his young son in the batting arts? He smiles. "He is only nine and he just wants to smash the ball. I encourage him to do that, because above all he should love the sport. If he loves it, the rest will follow. I have not forced him into it. We hardly discussed cricket for the first four or five years of his life, but it seems to be in his heart. It is hard to judge how good he will be. Cricket is not just about physical ability, it is also about mental ability, adapting to different conditions and situations. It is hard to judge the mentality of a boy of nine."

... when it comes to skills as opposed to power or speed, the women could teach the men a thing or two. Katherine Brunt was able to control the swinging ball under pressure on a finals day at Lord's in a way that has not always been apparent in men's finals, as Scott Boswell, of Leicestershire, who got the yips in the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final, would testify. Sarah Taylor, the England wicketkeeper, could pass on a tip or two to Matt Prior about soft hands (her stumping in the opening over of the final would have pleased James Foster) and I cannot remember a better chasing innings in a Twenty20 match than the one played by Claire Taylor against Australia.

For England, expansion is the game now. Clare Connor, the former captain now in charge of women's cricket in this country, is adamant that the nettle has to be grasped on the back of the current achievements, the game promoted aggressively, the players too. These women should be English sporting icons as much as any of our celebrated female athletes. Already, women's cricket is said to be the fastest growing women's team sport in the country. There are now more than 450 clubs with women's and girls' sections. Participation has increased by 49 per cent in the last 18 months. Think what hammering home the current success will do.

Even in India, which with its deep pockets now virtually controls the ICC. It will take some doing to crush Pakistan’s spirit. We will not simply go away and sulk. We can triumph in the face of adversity. Besides the cup, the best thing this slam-bang version of cricket delivered was a sense of self-belief. Also, this Pakistan side seems to enjoy itself on the field.

"Back in Australia in a second XI game for New South Wales, I got a thin edge, didn't walk and went on to make a hundred. I felt so bad afterwards that I went to apologise to the bowler, who was a 38-year-old veteran. He said, ‘Don't worry, this game obviously means more to you than it does to me.' And I thought, ‘Yeah, but still. At what cost?'” From that point, he decided he would always walk if he had hit the ball.

"If you ask me for my gut reaction about this series my feelings are very ­different to what they would've been six months ago," Strauss says pointedly. "Six months ago I was very concerned about how things were looking. But, now, we're in a very good place.