The Surfer

This time, after a reasonable first day of the series in Brisbane we saw England assailed by technical, intellectual and emotional chaos, with no one able to stop it. Recent Ashes history makes no sense. The swing from the summer is too great for us properly to comprehend because it takes us beyond mere sporting factors into a vast realm of psychology, team spirit and character. Flintoff has spoken of his depression on the 2006-07 tour. One wonders at the private thoughts of captain Cook and his men now and how they will suffer with the results from these five Tests slung permanently around their necks.

The senior players have let England down. Graeme Swann will be the hardest to replace. Jonathan Trott will have to convince England that he is well enough not to leave a tour again if he is to come back but Matt Prior will return, possibly as early as the first Test of next summer. But there will be those who should never play Test cricket again after this -- Monty Panesar, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Michael Carberry and Jonny Bairstow.

This is a moment in history where Indian cricket has so much going for it, and the BCCI can take some credit for it, but far too many opportunities are wasted in chasing other priorities. Producing a team that can win away is a major priority. India have lost nine out of the last 10 Tests (I will insist it should have been 10 out 10!) in three different countries. That is a greater worry than a diminishing bottom line in a balance sheet. Umesh Yadav not playing, Munaf Patel disintegrating, Irfan Pathan vanishing, Sreesanth lost. These should be greater concerns than fighting for state associations to be put in their place or ensuring there are enough proxy votes.

Our choices determine our outcomes and if India's batting flourishes overseas, it might cover up cracks but till India makes it a priority to produce bowlers who can win matches, India will never be a major strength overseas.

For me, the story is told by the stumps left behind by Ben Stokes after his sterling 47 at the SCG. Stokes has raised his bat to the 101st ball he faced, bowled by Peter Siddle. The off bail has been excised, as if by keyhole surgery. The wicket is otherwise barely disturbed: a still life of joy and misery.

Part of the problem Cook has is that, before he became captain, he played much of his Test career under one captain - Strauss. I was lucky enough to have played under Keith Fletcher, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton before I captained England, and I learned something from each of them. Fletcher was full of tactical wisdom, Gooch led from the front, Stewart had this attention to detail, and Atherton never placed his personal ambitions ahead of the team.

It's easy to see why Kumar is a respected voice. He may have given up his role as a spin mentor at the National Cricket Academy, a position he held from 2003 to 2010, but he hardly shifts focus from cricket, particularly spin bowling. "You see, over-emphasis on coaching has brought about a bit of degeneration in the players' thought process today," he points out. "They're just not able to think independently. Players are literally being spoon-fed today. In our times, there were no coaches, so the people who graduated in the 1940s and 50s were naturals. They had their unique understanding of the game. "No one taught them your right leg should be parallel to the crease or your front foot should be facing fine leg for pivot. They didn't need any coach to tell them that. Today, that's not the case."

The thing with this Anderson innings is that, much like Aaron Finch's world-record T20 international century at the Ageas Bowl last year, people will go faster, hundreds can and therefore will be scored in fewer balls than 36. It is the idea of 'can and therefore will' that really touches a chord. After Finch's innings the concept of 'perfect overs' where every ball is hit for six was first mentioned; innings like Anderson's today make you wonder whether a 'perfect innings' could ever occur. Such is the growing inevitability of sixes being struck, it almost seems as if cricket has entered a phase in which one record being broken merely takes cricket one, or two balls closer to the statistical vertex of batsmanship of the 17-ball hundred.

It was also the year that an era of batting like no other at last slipped away. The 2013 IPL gave us Pondulkar. Both halves of that star-crossed partnership are now gone, Sachin amid scenes that will live long in the memory. The speech was a belter, too. Then Jacques Kallis did what neither could, and closed his Test career with a century that left him forever one run ahead of Rahul Dravid on the all-time list. The big four stand on their Olympus now.

For long, there was a practical reason to have successful politicians at the helm of affairs. It meant that government clearances, administrative irritants and foreign exchange problems (a major bugbear in the past) could be smoothened out easily. But in the recent past, especially after economic liberalisation and India's pre-eminent role in world cricket, politicians have needed cricket more than the game has needed them. How else do you explain Sharad Pawar, a former president of the ICC, contesting and winning the election as the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association?

A coach these days is more of a manager than a coach. At this level, you shouldn't really need a coach. You need someone to organise, to come up with gameplans and tactics, rather than someone who is going to do much actual coaching. The way England have gone about their business on the field in these Tests has been a little bit negative. That stems from the captain but also the coach - in England's approach there has been a little bit of Cook and a little bit of Flower.

There are questions about basic cricket issues that we should not be asking of an England captain or team. Stuart Broad bowled two overs on the final morning at the MCG, found the edge but did not bowl again until 12.15pm - an hour and 35 minutes later. It was ridiculous. One bowler who can create a bit of panic, and bowl spells that win Test matches, was not used. By the time he came on to bowl his second spell the game had gone. The same for Monty Panesar. So many people have questions to answer.

"When I started serious cricket, I didn't know how far I could go in the sport or what I could achieve. I came from a village and I didn't know what was what. Then I played for the state under-19s, and as I watched Ranji Trophy games here, I gradually realized that cricket could take me somewhere if I worked hard."

I saw a team that heroically beat India in India not 12 months ago and was measurably too good for Australia in the northern Ashes complete its falling apart in Australia. I saw England almost give up. And I rubbed my eyes.