The Surfer

Raised on the turf wickets of the city and in an environment that encouraged the gifted, Jaffer has flourished right from the time he began hitting ball at the Anjuman Islam School nets and in the highly competitive inter-school tournaments.

Before the days of those trips, players would jump from domestic first-class or one-day cricket straight into the national team. Some made the step up, others didn't. But now the selectors have more tools at their disposal when it comes to assessing the merits of cricketers ... Think of Tim Southee, Jesse Ryder and Daniel Flynn, all now integral members of the New Zealand team, either in the ODI or test side, or both.

What if a ball had hit a crack and seriously cracked open his hand? What if he was out for a year instead of a few weeks? That would have seriously compromised the next series. What would the headlines be saying now? Would they focus on bravery or stupidity?

I have been lucky enough to see, at first hand, most stages of Andrew's life. Progression from cocky, precocious schoolboy, to shambolic undergraduate, responsible county captain, match-winning international cricketer, and now committed family man. Evident from the start was a competitive nature the like of which many of us at school had never previously witnessed. Whether it was playing stump cricket with a tennis ball in a corridor of the school dormitory, hitting golf balls on a driving range or chipping them at a flag on a green, he wanted to be the best.

Television cameras kept flashing across to the visitors’ bench where the coach was observed chuckling nervously one minute and covering his eyes the next. By the way the thunder continued rolling around without ever delivering its contents. But the overall impression was of a team at ease with itself, a team committed to victory but unencumbered with earnestness let alone zealotry

Speak to any cricketer from the golden generation – Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman – and ask them who or what inspired their childhood dreams. You can rest assured that 1983 will get a mention within seconds. For the rest of the world, it was an upset win, the 66-1 outsider streaking past in the final furlong. For India, it was the day when sport pushed itself to the forefront of the national consciousness. There had been eight hockey golds at the Olympics, an All England badminton title for Prakash Padukone and Asian success for the footballers but no one event captured the imagination quite like Kapil's Davids slaying the invincible West Indian Goliaths in the final at Lord's.

The switch-hit is an interesting innovation. What’s your take on this controversial stroke?

Suffering a potentially career-threatening injury can do that to sporting ambitions. At the end of October the tall, lean Auckland batsman dislocated his right knee batting in a practice match at Whangarei. Gone until New Year was the early prognosis of a painful injury. But, in medical talk, he 'rehabbed' remarkably well, regained his fine touch of last summer and yesterday was confirmed as one of two debutants in the side to play the West Indies at Eden Park in the fourth ODI tomorrow.

The Flintoff Camp Made up of sensitive fast bowlers who don't like batsmen getting all the credit for their hard work.
The Pietersen Camp Made up of batsmen who were acolytes of Duncan Fletcher and less enamoured of Peter Moores.
The Darts Camp Those who spend hours on the oche on tour: Harmison, Cook and Flintoff.