The Surfer

I managed to last nine miles at his shoulder, walking at a pace of 4.5mph, which is around three times normal walking speed.

I'm not sure what hurt first - burning calves, sore shins, aching thighs or screaming feet.

'A man ran with us on Sunday with his two sons,' Beefy reports. 'Fourteen years ago, he was given no chance of survival; that's why I do this. The pain you feel is nothing compared to what these people endure. We're making a difference.'

They are still a formidable bunch but quite how they deal both with a lack of variety and the absence of that genuine, twin-pronged, match-winning penetration will be fascinating to watch – not just for the rest of this series, but during the gruelling whistle-stop itinerary on which Ponting is about to lead his team, with home and away series against South Africa in the pipeline, plus next summer's Ashes. Australia might yet win all of these. But the gap has visibly narrowed. This is a stodgier, more human bunch of world champions, one less assured of punching all the right pressure points at all the right times.

"It took me maybe three tours before I finally started feeling comfortable over there," Shane Warne said recently. "I don't know what it was, but I never used to look forward to going. But on my last trip I started to love it and now I think I've come to understand the place."

It's all changing now. India is now the cash cow of world cricket and a professional cricketer will always find a way to love something backed by the green stuff. But there is also a new maturity among the latest generation of Australian cricketers. We first saw it emerge with Steve Waugh and a handful of others, men who saw touring not just as a sporting mission but a self-educational journey.

This is where Chappell’s knowledge, not only of playing conditions, but also the aggressive demands of the public and the defensive mindset of cricketers and administrators would have been invaluable. The debate over the senior pros has spilled over into mindlessness, and aggravated only by the premature hysteria over Tendulkar’s impending world record.

At that point, three years ago, we were horrified to learn that the BCCI was an object of ridicule at the ICC. The then ICC chief embarrassed us by saying the Board needed total restructuring and professionalism. He pointed out how unresponsive the Board was to communications from the ICC despite the CEO's public admonitions. Though we defended the Board and its officials, we knew change was needed. I'm glad that's happened.

By stumps, much more will be known about the ability of this Australian attack to take wickets on a pitch deteriorating slower than expected. Among the pacemen, Mitchell Johnson has been a handful without ever looking likely to run amok while Brett Lee deserved a better return. Handicapped by a wonky elbow, Stuart Clark was serviceable while Shane Watson's strength was an asset on a grudging surface.
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If anything, the Indian middle order will feel the squeeze even more than the visiting bowlers. India has a match to lose and the senior batsmen have positions to protect. Remembering the form some of them showed down under a few months ago, Australians may be surprised to hear that half of India is ablaze with the call for youth.

If suggesting to Tendulkar that he might like to consider his options is tantamount to violating a Hindu god, there comes a time in the affairs of man, as W C Fields, that shrewd observer of the human condition, said, when one must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.
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Yet even then there was the faint suspicion that the real glory days were behind them, that reflexes and desire were fading together and that they failed to recognise the slow decline of either. There have been indications since only of deterioration, which did not quite square with the huge expectation before this series, partly fuelled by hype, partly because of Australia's own gentle but discernible downturn, partly because of that recent, eventually tight series between the pair.

Sri Lanka had the men to take them on from strength to strength. Canada did not and they are in the same position they were thirty three years ago. So it is difficult for any nation to get close to the major playing nations. A few generations must absorb the sport before successful candidates emerge, to get on to the world stage

Unfortunately, since so many of the appointments of late have been political appointments of people who are cricket buffs and long to be seen rubbing shoulders with the big names in the sport, their identification of what their job demands has been immature, sometimes to the point of being childish; one former chairman was so excited with his appointment that he asked a leading cricketer to accompany him as he did the rounds of men’s stores in central London buying clothes; he just could not resist the temptation of showing off the cricketer who, rather than the Chairman, was instantly recognised wherever he went.

The chief executives of other cricket boards are hardly heard and seen even less. Mr Butt should roll up his sleeves and get to work and give interviews when there is something tangible to report and where he can talk not in the future tense but in the present.