The Surfer

... he has grown, he has mellowed, he has become constructive and yet the target is the same. He is more the clinical assassin, taking in the moment, surveying the landscape and waiting for the moment, aware that it can be his. There isn’t the sense of drama, no Bolt, no Isinbayeva, no Ronaldo — gee, more Bindra, really.

No, the players' minds were closed. They didn't want to go to Pakistan and no amount of persuasion on behalf of the hosts - and no amount of armour-plated security - was going to change that.

Former Mumbai cricketer and noted coach Vasu Paranjpe is of the opinion that going forward early and playing the ball late could be an answer. Here the batsman’s trigger movement takes him five to six inches forward as the bowler is about to deliver. The head — still and steady — and shoulder move forward. The elbow comes back towards the body.

Players such as Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma were selected in a hurry based on their scores in domestic cricket, but Badrinath was stonewalled for almost three years. I am not suggesting that Tiwary and Sharma are not good enough, but it was incomprehensible as to why Badrinath had to wait for such a long time to get into the Indian team. My stance would have been the same even if the player at the receiving end happened to be from any other part of the country. But for this serendipitous opportunity, Badrinath was in danger of losing out totally as he is a bit longer in the tooth than his competitors for a middle-order slot.

In his touchy-feely way he has, crucially, got Andrew Flintoff onside, and with him Steve Harmison. Under him, England have a substantially better chance of regaining the Ashes than they would have under Michael Vaughan, who appeared to have lost not only his form but also the dressing room, or at least important parts of it. Judging by his only Test as captain Pietersen, unlike Vaughan, also realises that Flintoff must play as one of five bowlers and bat at six; if the top five don't get enough runs change them. We can only make a proper judgment on Pietersen when things start to go wrong, which they will. And it will eventually end in tears, because it always does.

So comes the semantics. Is it really a West Indies team that England will be playing? Indeed is it right to call them England? It seems to me that if, say, the current England XI were hired to play at Wormsley under the Getty banner then that doesn't make them England. Likewise Stanford All Stars. We all know what they are, but this is about legalese. I hope it can be established that England will not play as England but as an England XI, just as we would were it any other non-international match abroad. If KP gets a hundred and helps win a million a man then all well and good. But it shouldn't count in the international records.

As captain, I found it frustrating you couldn’t have a discussion with Bradman. If you had a varying opinion to his that was the end of the matter; it was closed not in the manner of finishing a book but more like a door slamming in your face. Once you’d put your case he countered with the perennial, “No son, we can’t do that,” delivered in his distinctive high- pitched tone, as was the harangue that followed and then the meeting was over. His attitude toward the Australian players’ requests for better pay was extremely disappointing in view of the battles he had with the authorities over similar issues when he was playing.

But bowlers have always tried to give themselves an advantage and generally, unless it has been blatant, umpires have turned a blind eye. Suncream-laden sweat or lip balm has the same effect on leather as mint-infused saliva. Why do you think so many bowlers in the 1950s wore Brylcreem? In 1921, Johnny Douglas, the England captain, threatened to report Arthur Mailey, the Australia leg spinner, for using resin to grip the ball. Mailey countered by pointing out that Douglas's thumbnail was worn to the bone by picking at the ball's seam to aid his own bowlers.