The Surfer

When a game is played for money only, it is worthless, and enough people care about the England cricket team not to want to see them playing worthless fixtures. The England cricket team mean an awful lot to an awful lot of people and they do not like it when they see something valuable, something that represents them, reduced to a rich man's plaything.

Siddle says he is growing more comfortable with each passing Test and if his form-line continues his mates will find it hard to believe they have lunch with him. The hard-toiling quick debuted in India, impressing everybody with his ability to run in and bowl a good, honest line and impressive pace.

He loves cricket so much that the day he retires from it at the end of next season he will be just eight months short of his 80th birthday. Few people last as long in any profession.

Pattinson hopes his return to first-class cricket will give him the opportunity to impress once again, so stories about his performances do not always hang on that Test against South Africa. "I don't want to be known as the bloke who played one Test … I don't want to be a guy that gets forgotten about."

Strongly influenced by Bob Woolmer during his playing days, Kirsten’s coaching style is similar, encouraging players to self-analyse rather than insisting on telling them what’s wrong with their technique.

If a player asks for help, even if Kirsten has spotted something, he is most likely to say, “I don’t know. What do you think about it?” No pedantic lectures, no stressing on the importance of keeping your head still and your eyes on the ball. Discussions with him, players say, are on more equal terms in comparison with Chappell and more in-depth in comparison with John Wright.

If they did look into his past they would have discovered that Stanford had been kicked out of the Caribbean island of Montserrat by the British Government in 1990, after setting up his bank there five years earlier. He then took his bank in Antigua where, at the last count, his commercial interests employ five per cent of the island's workforce, a human travesty in the making if it all goes pop.

This year, advertisers are showing restraint, sponsors are more demanding, and investors are wary of taking too large an exposure. Says Santosh Desai, CEO, Future Brands: "Everyone thought that this year would be a blockbuster after last year's show...it's difficult to imagine that someone would take a big bet as people are much more cautious about spending."

On Ishant Sharma

In Jamaica Pietersen alone was dominant, while all the rest of the batsmen were nervous and tentative. Here Pietersen scratched around like an old hen, while all the others bar Flintoff have bristled with aggression. He has never enjoyed being one of the pack.