The Surfer

How well we recall the look on the face of Sir Garfield Sobers on April 18, 1994, as the greatest cricketer ever watched from the pavilion at the Antigua Recreation Ground with Lara closing in on his standard of 365 not out which had stood since 1958. Yes, there was pride at the full flowering of another West Indian batting talent. But you could have also seen a tinge of regret that, 36 years after he stamped his own indelible mark on the game at the age of 21, here was this 23-year-old phenomenon on the verge of knocking him off the top of this particular statistical heap.

The effrontery is staggering on so many levels, the consistency of the logic shaky at best. Collier told BBC radio's Garry Richardson that there would have been an outcry if the ECB had looked Stanford's gift-horse in the mouth. Yet Stanford had already been turned away by India and South Africa, and hardly a peep of protest was heard from fans or administrators in those countries concerned about missing out on a giant pay-day. And if Collier really didn't think he had done anything wrong, why did he and Clarke even bother to discuss the issue of resignation?

NH: Let’s get into the Stanford affair. Did you do proper due diligence? One of his associates said the ECB were very naive not to raise concerns. It would have been easy to do so.

The device uses electronic sensors to measure the degree of elbow extension from the time the bowling arm reaches a horizontal level to the ball's release ... Griffith University project leader Daniel James said the device would help remove controversy "and let people get on with playing the game".

Oh, and congratulations Matt and Emily.Births have been a regular feature of England tours in recent years. Indeed, every tour should have one and probably will. In 2002, Nasser Hussain took his wife and elder son to Australia so he would neither have to go home nor miss the birth of his second son. Strauss left a tour of Pakistan in late 2005 to be at the birth of his and his wife’s first baby. England lost by an innings.

Stationed 2000 km southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand bred conditions for cricket that were uniquely its own. The sticky-wet wickets yielded as readily as soft-set custard, enabling the ball to dwell and deviate when landed on the seam. The dense, water-charged atmosphere allowed the ball to swing — and as if this weren’t enough, the small, open grounds, sensitive to the blustery gusts that frequent these parts, furthered the cause of swing.

Why do cricketers get attracted to politics?

Usually, they get invited by some party or the other... Their advantage is that they don’t have to introduce themselves from any platform… That way, there’s probably 30 per cent less work to do... If, for example, a relatively unknown person stands for elections, then that person’s entire history has to be repeated at every gathering.

The notion of reducing the bowling option by bolstering the batting seems to go against the grain of circumstance. But how to put a quart into a pint pot? One idea is for Prior to bat at six and tell him to take responsibility. This leaves Broad at seven – too high for someone who has yet to make a first-class hundred – and a long tail in a series that has so far seen significant contributions from both lower orders.