The Surfer

It doesn't take much head- scratching to realise that, if cricket chiefs really want to reintroduce an element of credibility to officiating, it would make much more sense to simply allow the bowlers' end umpires to call for video assistance whenever they felt the need. In an environment in which the benefit of the doubt has now been replaced by a forensic audit, the umpires at least deserve the opportunity to refer the close-calls upstairs themselves. Forcing them to guess first is simply perverse.

The effect on the mood of the moment was startling. The crowd, restrained, by Indian standards, for most of the match, suddenly hit full pitch with the growing awareness that a miracle was unfolding. The biggest effect was on England, though. The bowlers, Andrew Flintoff apart, wilted under the onslaught. James Anderson and Stephen Harmison sent down dross with the new ball and Panesar was forced into his best Ashley Giles impression, bowling way outside leg stump into the rough. England were on the defensive and panicking, and no amount of faux smiling from the captain could fool anyone that it was otherwise.

Strauss was not born to hit the ball straight, he was made for the less exalted, but no less profitable areas. But one of Strauss's many enviable qualities, perhaps the most enviable, is his phlegmatic state. During the good days which formed most of his first two years as a Test cricketer he often alluded to the truth that it would not always be this good. It was as if he was preparing himself for the hard times and preparing the selectors for them as well.

That, quite simply, is the story of South Africa versus Australia during the past 14 years. Cronje against Australia was Greg Norman at the Masters, Adam Scott at a major, Ivan Lendl at Wimbledon, the New Zealand rugby union side at any recent World Cup.

Mitchell Johnson has already tried to talk up himself, Stuart Clark and Brett Lee as equally potent, and he has a fair point — Lee at full steam with a new ball won't be the most welcome of sights for Smith and Neil McKenzie. But the adrenaline and the competition — as well as the sledging, which has the potential to reach the standard India and Australia set earlier this year — is exactly why this series will be so fascinating; that, and the test that is represents for the true measure of Australia at the moment.

An off-spinner who is willing to flight the ball, Jason Krejza was selected in the Australian cricket team to tour India from relative obscurity. Australia persisted with the part-time spin of Michael Clarke and Cameron White for the first three Tests, but desperately needed a win in the final Test to square the series and Krejza finally got his chance (at the expense of Stuart Clarke). He didn't disappoint, taking eight wickets in the first innings and 12 in the match in total ... Mendis made his debut against the West Indies in April and burst onto the international scene during the Asian Cup in June. His 6/13 in the final — against Indian players that have played spin their whole careers — was remarkable, with Indian captain MS Dhoni stating in the post-match press conference that even a team with 11 batsman would not have been able to play him on the day.

The record came at 4.23pm with a leg-side single off left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi. Asked to describe the reaction in England’s dressing room, Taylor said: “It was moderate. Had it been someone else, we would have been ecstatic, but because it was ‘Sir Geoffrey’ it was somewhat different. He wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, particularly not among the England players.”

I originally thought it would not work simply because of the defensiveness in the world of adjudicating officialdom, in all sports. I questioned whether umpires would be prepared to have their decisions overturned for fear of being left red-faced out in the middle. It would appear, following a meeting between the ICC officials and the Sky TV commentary team before the current Test, that the umpires are quite happy to accept their mistakes so long as the right semantics are adhered to.

Kevin Pietersen was long since booked in as England's world-class batsman; and on Saturday Paul Collingwood added himself to the list. It was a tough situation, 118 ahead and the last pair of specialist batsmen together, but Collingwood was built for tough situations. If he was called up, he would be flown in behind enemy lines because he knows all the dirty tricks; and if he was captured, he would not so much as squeak.

Clarke is a likable bloke who is right at home having a beer with his mates. So much so that to outsiders he will come across as "one of the boys" - a vastly different perception to former board members who mostly were regarded as faceless guardians of the game.

There is rumoured to be no love lost between Pietersen and Yuvraj ... Over the past three days, Pietersen has been thrown and reduced by someone he cannot rate as a bowler. On Thursday, he had tried early on to hit Yuvraj over long on, smeared the ball horribly, and was lucky to away with it, the ball just evading mid-wicket. Thereafter he treated him with all the respect he said England have for Dravid, scoring a mere four runs off 34 balls. Yesterday, the outcome was starker. Pietersen pushed forward to Yuvraj's first ball, played for non-existent turn, missed, and was lbw. It was a prime case of the batsman playing the man and not the ball.