The Surfer

In a different slot, the New T20, as it would be called, is being projected as a complement rather than a rival to the IPL. The organisers will save themselves a lot of tedious politicking with Lalit Modi and his friends on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) if they can make friends early. But the tone of the early part of the document written by Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, and David Stewart, the Surrey chairman, is that England must act quickly to ensure that India, already the biggest market for the world game, does not gain a monopoly on the most lucrative staging of the format.

Reeve brings to Central a reputation for improvisation that is likely to endear him to the likes of the flamboyant Ross Taylor, though he claimed that was a tag thrust upon him by others. "Innovative is something that someone else puts on you and I just weighed up the pros and the cons of where to put men in the field and what degree of risk you might take with a certain shot. I was lucky to have played and captained at a time at Warwickshire where myself and Bob Woolmer, we did analyse the game and give it the attention I believe it deserves. To me, playing the reverse sweep when the field is set a certain way is just the right thing to do. Other people would describe the shot as innovative, but if you practice it, it's just like playing any other shot."

To get the ball in the gap behind square leg, Pietersen had to rotate his wrists as if turning a car steering wheel sharp left at the lights. Bell may lack that kind of elasticity in limb but not in mind, and his late cut for four off Ntini, through an empty slip cordon, was like a deadly kiss, delicate but lethal in its effect on South Africa's morale. Before that his finest shot had been a lofted six off his eventual nemesis, Harris, but this came with that delicious cruelty closer to sadism than sport.

If and when this English Premier League is launched in 2010, dominating the key cricketing months of June and July, the county championship, which has already been made virtually meaningless by the comings and goings of star players for the odd fortnight, will wither. It will carry on in some form, but in effect it will be a second-eleven competition, a place for the Premier League stars to get some practice and for young players to stake their claim to the big bucks of Twenty20.

Cricket is a great game because it lasts long enough for character to express itself. Twenty20 allows for no such niceties. Mock drama replaces narrative; money overwhelms love; celebrity usurps true character.

I thought the fact that my mother was not at Lord's to watch me - she died three weeks ago - would hit me hard when I took the field yesterday .. The one intervention that I needed to make came when I picked up Pietersen's necklace when he was hit on the helmet.

There were 41 dot balls in the first six overs of this game, but it didn't mean it was any less intriguing than the instant biff-bang-wallop of Twenty20. Did those spectators who turned up to see whether the self-proclaimed South African mean machine would live up to their arrogant pre-match propaganda feel disappointed when it turned out their fast bowlers couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo?

As far as we are concerned, there is no reason for him to feel upset," said the club's development officer David Clayton ... "He's absolutely gutted. He just wants to play cricket. He is obsessed by cricket, so driven. He loves the game. I offered him a game with our Under-17s (last night) and he said he'd better not – that was the first time I've ever seen him turn down a game. I remember when he first moved over here with his family. He was so keen. He practised every night. If there was no one to practise with, he would practise on his own. Even though he's been playing with the Yorkshire Academy for the last two seasons, he's still down here all the time.You could tell he was good right from the start – he's the best I've seen at that age. He's also a top lad. I'm sure he'll bounce back from this."

The funny thing is that every country got what it wanted and the game suffered. Zimbabwe got the best deal. They wanted money, they got it; they didn’t want cricket, now they don’t need to provide it. And England got what they wanted; the money that will flow in from organizing the next world T20 and a political victory by denying Zimbabwean players a world stage. It has very dangerous implications ... Worse still is the decision to change the result of the Oval Test between England and Pakistan.

Not since the beginning of the Ashes series three years ago has there been such anticipation about the start of a Test series. Yesterday, Michael Vaughan suggested that a series against South Africa is “nearly up there with the Ashes” and if the England captain overstated the case a touch, it was partly in recognition of the fact that the bland fare offered up by 19 consecutive matches against New Zealand will be replaced by something much richer and more varied for the palate.

The AFL is considered a world leader in confronting racial vilification, and won a United Nations award for the code established after Essendon champion Michael Long reacted to Collingwood's Damian Monkhorst racially abusing him in 1995. Since then, the first step in resolving incidents of racial abuse has been for the two players to attend a mediation session. If that fails, the matter proceeds to the AFL Tribunal.