The Surfer

Teams play matches to be successful and win trophies for the country they represent and the fans who passionately follow them. For a player, fortune is amassed and fame is gained as a direct result of excelling in these events and winning trophies.

Ingredients: onions, olive oil, curry paste, tomatoes (tinned), stock, sweet potato, green beans (chopped), rice, a spinner. (NB: spinner does not need to be fresh).

On pitches that will help spin and with fielders surrounding the batsman, the system would have been a big help in defusing potential confrontation situations and that's why it is a pity that it wont be used in this series. Not many "walk" these days and that can lead to a feeling of frustration if the reprieved player goes on to play a match turning innings as happened last season.

Australia arrive in India having completed the first half of the operation - the old guard is nearly gone - but with the more difficult half, the new guard replacing it satisfactorily, incomplete. For India, the old guard is looking at its watches, at calendars, at the record books as if to suggest that there is time yet.

It is now left, not so much to the managers, the coaches and the match referees, but more so to the umpires. They are the ones who will decide what "extreme circumstances" are and the hope is that, in the interest of the game, they will be strong and firm.

"Extreme circumstances" should be emergencies, the call of nature and nothing else, and that should involve just a few minutes off the field.

"Extreme circumstances" should not include those who are unfit and who need a break after bowling a few overs or after chasing a few balls, those who, because of their fitness, should not have been selected, or those who, despite being professionals, are simply too big, too much of a star, to stay in the field for any length of time.

For the first time in more than a decade, a period in which Australian cricket was so flush with talent that the biggest decisions were about who to leave out rather than who to pick, the focus settles squarely on Hilditch and his men, Merv Hughes, Jamie Cox and David Boon.

Clarke, 55, says that much of his job is about networking and socialising for the good of the game. “I am also very proud that we have secured a new broadcasting deal until 2013, particularly given the crisis in the economy, that there has been so much unprecedented investment in amateur and professional facilities, and that we have a much better relationship with Pakistan now,” he said. “In future years I want to see them play in the Midlands and the North in particular, where there are large Asian communities.”

Despite being handicapped by frequent bouts of asthma, Ranji scored 189 in his first match of the tour, and 175 in his first Test in Australia. Ranji, thus, had achieved the unique distinction of scoring a century on debut against Australia both in England as well as in Australia. His performance down under had a multi layered impact. In Australia it was a triumphant tour for him. He became the darling of the people and created what has been called the "Ranji fever". There were Ranjithsinghji sandwiches, Ranjitsinghji hair-restorers, bats and chairs". In India, Ranji's batting was perceived as a triumph of nationalism on the sporting field.

One of cricket’s peculiarities is its persistence with selection panels. In this age of professional sport and accountability, I don’t know of any country where the coach is solely entrusted with picking his team.

In most professional sports this is the norm. It must be one of the most frustrating things for an international cricket coach knowing the judgment and opinions of others can significantly influence the success and failure of his job.