The Surfer

If the Australian captain doesn't know how he wants his bowlers to attack Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman after playing against them for a decade, then Greg isn't going to be of much help.

If Bangladesh's cricket administrators have their way, these players — Aftab is 23 and Baisya 25 — will disappear into a Bermuda Triangle-like void. The administrators are enthusiastic followers of the Indian board's zero-tolerance policy towards the ICL, and there have been noises from Dhaka in recent days about how the 10-year ban handed down to 13 players is in the "best interests of Bangladeshi cricket"... Little has been heard on the subject since, and it's a matter of shame that the biggest names in the sport haven't moved a muscle to come to the aid of their fellow professionals. Like certain footballers who are "horrified" at being offered contracts worth only $110,000 a week, they appear more than content to don the commercial greasepaint and sit on their millions.

The tourists' arrival at their Jaipur hotel was notable for the number of players able to sneak in past the Indian media pack without raising anything so much as a quizzical ‘who are you?’ glance.

All the options have a story to tell. There is Siddle, the fast medium bustler just back from a shoulder injury he carried bravely through the Sheffield Shield final for nine wickets and his spot in the tour party. Krejza is a combative off spinner who last spring was banned from pre-season training with Tasmanian state teammates for drink-driving. Watson, a blonde Adonis of an all-rounder when fit, is out to shake his history of getting injured at the worst possible times.

For all its many faults, with perhaps the biggest two probably being that there are a couple more counties than there ideally should be and that there are too many non-England qualified players, the Championship plays an absolutely crucial role in the development of cricketers. The education system in this country does not make money. It is an investment. And it is on overcast Thursdays in front of meagre crowds at Taunton or Chester-le-Street that the next Pietersen or Andrew Flintoff are to be found learning their trade.

We lost Mark Butcher early on and I was asked to stand in as captain. Right from the very beginning I said I was happy to carry out the orders on the field but I was conscious that I was a stand-in captain and that it was not my show. Policy and selection was still down to the coach and Mark Butcher.

The subsequent, protracted failure of the team from that point up to the 2007 World Cup tended to prove Gough right. As he said: "You can't buy bowlers like me at a local superstore - it takes years and years."

The Championship may be enjoying one of its more captivating seasons, but life for domestic cricket's premier competition is not going to get any easier, and the number of people who question the worthiness of playing midweek four-day cricket in front of sparse crowds is only set to increase. The rise, rise and rise of Twenty20 cricket, a frantic, consumer friendly and ever more lucrative form of the game has ensured just that.

Ironically, PCB's post also defies democratic system, just like governments in Pakistan. The country is ruled more by army than by politicians. The same is the case of the appointment of the PCB chairman. Unlike other countries where there is an elected president in the cricket boards, PCB chairman is appointed by President of Pakistan.