The Surfer

Someone like Bhagwat Chandrasekar, a freakish legspinner, posed searching questions to ’keepers. Farokh Engineer (66 catches and 16 stumpings in 46 Tests) — an aggressive batsman and a flashy ’keeper — says, “Nine out of ten times, Chandra did not realise which way the ball would spin. Chandra really gave it a rip. His wrist would almost turn around completely. “Keeping to him called for split second coordination. His quicker delivery was really quick. The one that darted through the leg side could provide a stumping opportunity. You had to be quick and alert.”

It is a simple question, but the answer will define English cricket in future. Do you care more about the start of the new County Championship season tomorrow or the Indian Premier League, about to be refloated as a Bombay duck out of water in South Africa this weekend?

ROOM TEMPERATURE

Last year the IPL was a great help because not only did I learn a lot of things playing with international cricketer, but it also helped me comeback into the Indian team...so many people all around the world follow the tournament. It is a big opportunity, especially for India's domestic cricketers to prove themselves on the world stage.

A former Sri Lankan cricket captain described Upul as any captain's dream and stated that in his opinion Upul, other than for his batting or bowling, deserved a place in any national team purely on his fielding ability which saves up to 40-50 runs per match not to mention his match turning run-outs coupled with his sizzling airborne catches.

Towards the end of last year Cricket for Change, the organisation that advocates using the sport as a means of bringing people together, travelled to Israel to see if there was a chance of bringing the game to young Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews and Ethiopian Jews ... Cricket for Change was set up in the wake of the Brixton riots in 1981 as way of introducing unemployed people to cricket. It also promotes the sport for people with disabilities, for girls and in parts of the world still unfamiliar with the game.

We’ve got one young player who’s going to be very interesting. We’re tossing up now what his nickname is going to be — Wild Thing or Tornado, something like that. Kamran Khan is a young kid, a left-armer, a slinger, he doesn’t speak much English at the moment. He’s a tiny little guy but he bowls 140 plus. Another guy to look out for is Ravindra Jadeja. He played last year, did enough but he’s had another year of experience. Then there’s Yusuf Pathan. He was dynamite last year, he just destroys medium pace and spin bowling. He and Andrew Symonds are two of the cleanest hitters I’ve ever seen.

No, the long-term success stories of the 2005 Ashes are the likes of Caitlin Byrne and Lisvane CC, recipients of an infrastructure at the ECB that had seen what might be coming and planned to make the most of it. Which leaves cricket in this country in an unanswerable situation. Cricket was cool in 2005 because the Ashes were electric and because the electricity was there for all to see on terrestrial television. And the ECB has been able to reap the fruits of that summer in large part because it then shut down the terrestrial feed on Channel 4 and raised its income by dealing instead with Sky. Yet that harvest could never have been so rich if, as now, those five Tests had been available only to 30 per cent of the nation's sofas.

The time has come to awaken the one-day team and to divide the captaincy load. At least, Clarke can be put in charge of the 20-over outfit. An argument can be made for giving him responsibility for the one-day side as well. The outfit that served so well for so long is breaking up, with Brett Lee needing to rediscover his pace, Andrew Symonds given one last chance and the remaining thirtysomethings fraying at the edges. Abu Dhabi could herald the end of an era.