The Surfer

There are a few better sights for the connoisseur than when Harbhajan is giving the ball that bit more of air and allows his whiplash action to get the ball to spit at the upper portion of the bat and gloves of the bemused batsman.

The important question that needs to be raised is, did Chappell get wickets prepared at the Academy on specifications from the Australians? As the head (or chief consultant) of the cricket academy in Rajasthan, he had an advantage of being in a position where he could get things done - which were otherwise not possible. Here, he was performing dual roles in conflict with each other. As a consultant of the Australian team, he has to serve their interests but as the RCA academy chief, he, in many ways, is answerable to Indian cricket interests as well. Or am I wrong here?

Will we see more innovations or have we already reached the dead end? Luckily, the first signs have been positive: the transfer of power has been smooth, swift and sweet; the acrimony of the last three years was also swept aside and Sharad Pawar and Jagmohan Dalmiya even smiled at each other, even as older foes cheered on. We, of course, don’t know if it is just the ominous lull before a storm; we can’t even say if Dalmiya will really be forgiven for his trespasses or if the all-out attacks against him will be forgotten quickly enough. Indeed, it is not yet clear if a new power-equation is already emerging... to clip Lalit Modi’s wings.

Fast forward four years and New Zealand are again preparing to play Tests at the Gabba - the toughest venue in Australia since the WACA lost its sting - and the Adelaide Oval on the back of a two-test series in Bangladesh. Not just any old series but, as a bonus, a watered-down one featuring a Bangladesh team decimated by the recent ICL raid. There's a term for this and it reads something like "being set up for a fall".

In the past 10 years, Lords has received millions of pounds in funding from private investment, as well as £200,000 in direct Lottery grants.

No man succeeds by accident. Always it is by design. Until he started belting them around, the Australians criticised his footwork. Indians were more worried about his brain. But Sehwag is neither a fool nor a clown. Rather he is the most fearless of batsmen, a trait that makes him vulnerable but also dangerous. Captains fret about opponents capable of upsetting the best laid plans.

Growden approaches the issue from Fingleton's Catholic perspective, although it is worth noting that Growden himself is not a Catholic. One story he tells shows how rancorous an issue it was. During a match at the SCG, Bradman learned that Fingleton, who opened the batting, had had his bat sprinkled with holy water by a Catholic bishop. Fingleton was soon dismissed. As Bradman, the new batsman, passed Fingleton on his way to the middle, he said to him: "We'll see what a dry bat will do out there." Bradman scored a century.

The barefaced truth is that India is, at the moment, blackmailing the rest of the cricketing world to protect its own commercial interests (the IPL) from competition, which is a signature of all democratic countries.