The Surfer

And yet... there is something clearly vulnerable about an Australia squad touring India, the toughest gig in the game, that, when it was selected, included four players - Doug Bollinger, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain and Jason Krejza - who not only had not a single baggy green between them but were largely unknown outside the sports pages of the Sydney Morning Herald and other fine Australian newspapers ... But there are also three players who have broken into the Test team only in the past two years: Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers and Mitchell Johnson

Justin only met his great uncle once, when he was ten, but was aware of his exploits as a Test player.

I’ve given myself until November 10 to decide my best way back. To be the best player I can be, my decision-making has to be spot-on, and I felt recently I was making some wrong decisions as captain and a batsman. The hunger is still there all right – I’m mad to get back into the England team.

Yet this summer, Victoria could have as many as seven players wearing Australian colours: Siddle, McGain and White — the latter called up yesterday — at Test level, with Hodge and David Hussey also in contention in either one-day international or Twenty-20. Further down the list, but still very much in the sights of the selectors, are West Australian recruit Chris Rogers, who has already played a Test match and all-rounder Andrew McDonald.

For the professional sportsperson, however, life can be cruel. Success on the field of play is time-bound, and when the skills start fading, so does their perceived value. They have a sell-by date which is so ambiguous that they themselves are not sure when this has arrived. It is then that they are caught in the maelstrom of self-doubt and the whims and fancies of critics, selectors and even the public, as Ganguly will be experiencing every day now.

For instance, using forty as the benchmark, we find that there have been 102 players who have played a Test match at this age. Five of these were Indians — Vijay Merchant, C K Nayudu, C Ramaswami, RJ Jamshedji and Vinoo Mankad (who was 41 years, 305 days when he played against the West Indies at Delhi in 1959).

Sooner or later, though, no matter how finely it has been carried, the flame must be handed to another generation. If that time has not already past then it is fast approaching. Not that age is the only consideration, but it cannot entirely be ignored. Nor can the balance of the team. It is not sensible to allow a side to grow old together. A time is reached when such an outfit impresses more on paper than on the field.

Some of us receive daily reports from black Zimbabweans describing their plight. In Mandela, Tutu and company, this continent houses the greatest leaders alive. Alas, men of a different ilk are loose in Zimbabwean cricket (ZC). Far from taking Chingoka, Bvute and their racist cronies at face value, Nyoka ought to insist upon the immediate release of the official audit of the ZC accounts. After all, the game’s governing body itself requested the report as a means of ending controversy.