The Surfer

My view is that Gibbs should not be chosen for the tour to Australia because his lack of discipline once again undermines the team and gives credence to the feeling that perhaps he thinks he is bigger than the game.

The aura of invincibility that we [Australia] carried in the eyes of the opposition has probably gone. Teams think they can beat us now, and belief is so important in sport. In the weeks ahead against New Zealand and South Africa we should look to impose ourselves again and intimidate a few opposition players. We just need a bit of spark to get things going again.

In 1990 you had the greats who were in the last days of their careers, and Indian cricket possibly didn’t have consistently good results. We started to do exceptionally well in the 1990s and were unbeatable at home till 2000. Later, when John Wright and Sourav Ganguly took over the team, we started believing that we could win abroad. We didn’t win series overseas on a consistent basis, but at least in every series we toured, we did win matches. Now we are at a stage where we have done well against Australia, the number one team, in the last four series. We have won two and the other two were close. We are heading in the right way. I have done my bit. It is time to move on and the Indian team is in good hands.

Sourav [Ganguly] was probably the closest captain I have worked with. I have played a lot of cricket under him and he was always open to ideas and gave me the fields I wanted. He gave me the confidence that I will be there in the team and that I should just keep bowling well and taking wickets. He was always there for the youngsters. He backed me when I was nowhere, not even in the team. He brought me back in the team against Australia [in 2001] which proved to be the second coming for me as I took 32 wickets in the series. I will never forget whatever he has done for me. He has been a great supporter and a great friend. He is somebody whom I can look up to and say that you have changed my life.

Dhoni and Pietersen are the team's sexiest and most flamboyant players. They are entertainers, the type of cricketers fans here flock to see, and India's insatiable media cannot get enough of them. Each has the ability to thrill, combining the power, skill and daring needed to play an endless array of breathtaking strokes. They happen to be the captains of the two teams too. Each is inexperienced and over the next six weeks it will be fascinating to watch how they cope with the pressures that come with leading a team.

As a player, Symonds was obliged at least to appear to take Australia's matches against Bangladesh in August seriously. Instead, he went fishing, incurring the wrath of teammates and a suspension. Since, he has undergone a program of rehabilitation that sometimes has seemed too earnest to be taken seriously. Yesterday, chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch called it a "prescribed plan", making it sound like a course of chemotherapy.

Character determines outcomes; further, particular kinds of character, dictate (or ought to dictate) particular sorts of outcomes. So flamboyant batsmen, however good, do less well in the character stakes than more formally organized, ‘solid’ players. They are likely to be indiscreet in the matter of shot selection, prone to untimely dismissal, less committed to the team interest. Their performances, their careers, turn on the axis of narcissism, of selfishness.

The bowler many judges rate as the most skilful in England has not played international cricket since breaking down during the 2005 Trent Bridge Test even though his form last summer – he took 42 Championship wickets at 18 apiece – was surely good enough for him to be selected ahead of Darren Pattinson for the second Test against South Africa at Headingley.