The Surfer

With that kind of form it looks a cosy selection steeped in the nepotism of central contracts, especially when Ravi Bopara is in superlative touch and reeling off hundreds for Essex. But rather than figures, Michael Vaughan appears determined to place his faith in a familiar face, though not Steve Harmison’s, following the disruption to team morale caused by Collingwood’s omission at Headingley.

While sportsmen and celebrities of all kind usually turn to philanthropy now and then, it's hard to find someone who has done so much, personally, for a cause. To see for yourself you have to take a 22-kilometre drive from Galle, towards Colombo to the village of Seenigama, one of the worst affected by the 2004 tsunami. Over there you will find the Foundation of Goodness, an organisation that has touched the lives of people from 25 villages.

“We set the clock forward to the next day. We visualise the next day. It is action time. We are in the final. We make some costly errors. The opposition catches up towards the end. We eventually lose the final.”

Mother Breeda recalls her Tsunami experience to drive home the point. “I was in the market buying vegetables that day when the place got suddenly flooded. Somehow I got hold of a tree but I was losing my grip. Then I shouted, ‘I am Jayasuriya’s mother’, and soon I was rescued,” she says, with a smile on her face even as she narrates the harrowing experience of getting unconscious and being taken to a hospital in Colombo.

Meanwhile I await further evidence of what might at best be viewed as double standards by the players, and at worst hypocrisy. In 2005 Australia and England played one-day internationals at Lord's and The Oval just days after the July 7 atrocities in central London. If memory serves, there was no clamour to leave. Last winter England toured Sri Lanka even as bombs were exploding in Colombo and its environs. My family and I remained in Sri Lanka after the tour to enjoy a memorable Christmas and to appreciate that sometimes the reality outweighs the perception.

Dalmiya’s casting vote had denied Pawar the top position and one didn’t have to be a fortune-teller to forecast that the influential Union minister would, sooner rather than later, get even.

His second innings lasted five balls: 4, 4, 1, 4, W. "After nearly being out first ball I got down Kallis's end. And I know his first ball is always a loosener and it was a wide half-volley and I drove it for four, then I played at the next which angled in and then nipped away. It was a beautiful ball and I tried to withdraw the bat but I nicked it. It was disappointing but what am I supposed to do, block the half-volleys? I play how I play. I love batting. I love entertaining. Some days I come off and some days I don't. But I like to think that so far I've come off.''

Like insurance companies, cricket players seem to have a sliding scale when it comes to assessing risk. The more on offer, the more emboldened they become.

I'm with them on the ICC Champions Trophy, which although well-intentioned when it began back in 1998, serves little purpose except to clog the itinerary with more 50-over cricket.

Fun is an essential ingredient for life and the IPL format has this in abundance. Right from the high profile launch, to peppy theme songs, to adrenaline pumping cheerleaders, the tournament was like a carnival. Entertainment replaced the classical version of the colonially dictated approach to the game. The corporate world needs to take a leaf out of the format and include an ideal proportion of fun at the work place.