The Surfer

Prior, of course, can bat, well enough indeed to score two Test centuries with the promise of more. He may be required to bat at No. 6 in the forthcoming series, particularly if at any stage England choose two spinners. Thus we will have a modest gloveman but a pretty good batsman taking precedent over a craftsman behind the wicket who is not necessarily more than an adequate batsman. Trading runs scored against chances missed is rather like Fabio Capello selecting an inferior goalkeeper because he can score from free-kicks.

He is well aware that he would not have his job had not Len Smith, his predecessor, disappeared along with the eventual clearance of the rainwater after the abandoned one-day international against South Africa last summer. “Yes, I know I am under pressure,” Exton said as he gazed pragmatically at the square.

Forget a couple of bullying wins over Scotland and Ireland. Against Pakistan and Sri Lanka they were done like a pot roast. Injuries didn't help but there can be no complaints at being dumped out before the semifinals. They deserved no more. Instead the players and management should be reflecting on what went wrong. Broadly speaking, that won't take long; the bowling was generally tidy, the fielding pretty sharp, which leaves only ...

The middle order clearly needs beefing up and Collingwood's role as nudger at No5 must be in jeopardy with Luke Wright, if he continues to open with Ravi Bopara, offering sup-port to the seam bowlers. England cannot afford to field a team with James Foster as high as No6 and Graeme Swann at 7, as they did two days ago. But it runs deeper than a tinker here or there. The underlying principle that Test players can adapt to any format must be re-evaluated.

Before T20, of course, there was no such question, but since its inception, there has been the underlying feeling that T20 is an entity apart. Strauss maintaining the one-day captaincy is a manifestation of this. Were they to be innovative in their thinking, however, they might now want to take T20 as the blueprint and expand that to fit the 50-over game. Come at it from the opposite direction. It seems the natural thing to do because if England do not view it as such, you can bet your life that other teams will.

It is not that an entire set of quality young players has suddenly forgotten how to play, or that the Indian captain -- till yesterday regarded a whiz at man-management and understanding game situations -- has suddenly become a twit. That's a cop-out explanation. There is much that has gone wrong in this tournament but Twenty20 cricket, as we should know, can also be gloriously or agonisingly topsy-turvy as the IPL showed emphatically.

As we saw when Broad and Ryan Sidebottom bowled the final two overs of the match knowing that 12 balls were all that stood between India and the 28 runs the defending champions needed to avoid elimination, Twenty20 is making stringent technical demands on its players. The classic requirement of a sound technique with bat or ball is no longer enough. Now, with every delivery carrying significance, the players need to be endlessly adaptable and audacious, inventing their responses to meet the demands of the moment.