The Surfer

Australia now have no choice but to abandon the present so they can rebuild for the future. There will be pain as the next generation develops under Ricky Ponting but it can be no more painful than watching Australian cricket go into freefall over the past two days.

I don't buy the worries about having a former captain in the side. I had Nasser Hussain captaining Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart, and then Vaughan captaining Hussain. Michael can be very sensitive to what is needed and he will understand that his role is to quietly offer advice when it's asked for. If he is selected for the West Indies and can get his batting right over there, England simply must pick him against Australia.

If Vaughan is named in the squad the reasons for his return will be questioned. The 34-year-old has done nothing to warrant inclusion since resigning as captain four months ago ... Should Vaughan be overlooked the reasons for him being offered a sought after and lucrative 12-month central contract in September will be quizzed.

In June I made my historic first trip to Lord's to meet my new buddies at the ECB. Folks say the British can be cold and reserved, but as I stepped out of that helicopter I had a great, warm feeling of love, somewhere between the knee and upper thigh region. But as soon as Mr Collier had been removed and helped back up to his feet he was fine. "There you go, little fellow," I said, slipping him a little something for his trouble. "But ... I'm chairman of the ECB," he said, still drying his eyes. "My mistake," I said, replacing it with a fifty. "Now don't drop that valise, son. I'll be in your office. If you need me I'll be drinking a Dr Pepper with my feet up on your desk."

Nothing in the recent patchy performances of the national team prepared an incredulous crowd for the calamity they witnessed. Put it this way: in the first five hours of play, the cream of the country's cricketers managed to take a single wicket, and that caught near the boundary ... For Australia, it was not merely a bad day - it was a cricketing disaster.

At Edgbaston in August, Graeme Smith of South Africa played a captain's innings of admirable control and discipline to ensure his team won a Test series in England for the first time in 43 years. It was masterful. But for sheer human drama it was surpassed by Sachin Tendulkar's 41st Test century in Chennai which gave India an emotional victory following the horrific slaughter in Mumbai a fortnight earlier, a win that for four days had seemed certain to elude them. Once more, its nerveless control was its most extraordinary feature.

This is not some whimsical notion about sparing Australia the embarrassment of losing consecutive series against South Africa and England. It's a serious attempt to remind Warne that his word is his bond. Warne vowed to ride back on his white horse if Australia's spin-bowling stocks went up the chute after his retirement. Well, they are up the chute.

Hayden has never been a cricketer to state his case by artistic persuasion. The only way the Queensland behemoth knows is to pile up the runs. Not for him a Mark Waugh-like average of 42, with bonus points for aesthetic beauty. With Hayden it's always been runs or bust. He became one of the game's greatest accumulators.

Ian Bell has averaged 15 since moving to that position when Kevin Pietersen took over as captain; before him, Michael Vaughan averaged eight there in four matches against South Africa. It is one reason England have rarely won of late.

... just imagine if Pietersen had been in nick all year. Because he still ended the year as England's leading run scorer in both Tests (with 1,015 runs) and one-dayers (658), their player of the year by some distance. He is the man. As compatriot Gary Kirsten, India's coach and generally a man of understatement, says in their local vernacular: "Jeez, he's dangerous is that oke". He sure is.