The Surfer

Consecutive test match scores of 89, 57, 59 no, 102, 21 and 201 say something is working and Ryder is in a great space right now. He's an uncut diamond and any attempt to cut and polish him may prove fruitless and even damaging. Yes, getting blind drunk and into mischief is far from ideal, especially from a New Zealand Cricket public relations perspective but such has been the quality of Ryder's cricket that, if the odd late night sighting happens, it only builds on his cult status and his special appeal.

Successive Indian teams here have found unsympathetic pitches and New Zealand's battery of medium-fast bowlers snorting and pawing the ground, knowing the ball would fizz about and make batting uncomfortable ... Yet, for this tour of New Zealand, we have produced good batting tracks, like that billiard table in Napier.

Chief amongst my reasons to dislike the system is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to make a decision. First the no-ball must be cleared, then the actual dismissal must be viewed from a variety of angles, heights and hypotheses before the trembling third umpire presses the green or red button.
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Human error is a part of life, and if the modern fan cannot deal with that, then they are perhaps best served sticking to sci-fi films for entertainment, because in that field technology has really taken huge strides.

While Andy Flower’s England were capitulating to the latest embarrassing defeat of their ill-fated winter in Bridgetown, Mickey Arthur’s South Africa were securing a tense, come-from- behind victory in Johannesburg in their first Twenty20 international against Australia. On results and track record there is simply no comparison between Flower, England’s acting coach, and Arthur, the man who has taken South Africa to the top of the world one-day rankings and masterminded a Test series victory in Australia over Christmas and New Year.

England have no momentum, no head coach, no crackerjack bowler, no consistency – and, to be brutal, such moderateness has prevailed throughout the last generation, since other Test-playing countries became full-time professional, except when Duncan Fletcher defied the English system.

When England Cricket Board (ECB) chairperson Giles Clarke celebrated in Sydney with the World Cup-winning women’s team on Sunday, England were being talked of as favourites. By the time he landed in London on Thursday morning and headed to Lord’s for a reception in their honour, Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola was organising a press conference to declare victory
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In the end one of the key deciding factors was the most mundane one -- the British weather. While it can also be unpredictable in South Africa in April, the average temperature is 10 degrees higher and the odds of rain-free days are lower. But there were other factors at play.

“See yourself as others see you” is a useful maxim, and even the most genetically cynical, miserable and negative citizens will surely reflect on this past week and accept that, notwithstanding enduring poverty, crime and corruption, somebody must be getting something right within these borders.

Slowly, evidence is emerging to suggest that somehow the life gets sucked out of the team when Dhoni is not on the field. It’s not about field placements and bowling changes, there’s something more, something intangible, that seems to walk off with him.

To be given out by Steve Bucknor is death by torture. First the appeal, loud, prolonged, imploring. And then nothing. Only a tense stillness. Time is suspended. Packed stadiums freeze. The bowler grimaces in hope, the batsman tries not to look.

For the eight franchisees, 2008 saw a rough outflow of Rs75-100 crore per team and an inflow of Rs80 crore, maximum. No team other than actor Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders is believed to have actually broken even, though it was reported that Rajasthan Royals, the first-year champions, and finalists Chennai Super Kings had done so too. In 2009, the first blow came when the rupee crashed from 40 to a dollar to 50. Franchise royalties—the 10-year payments range from $67 million (around Rs 340 crore) for Rajasthan Royals to $112 million for Mumbai Indians—and player fees (each team was allowed to spend a maximum of $7 million in 2008-09 on contracting cricketers) were denominated in dollars.