The Surfer

The ICC no longer has the moral authority to run the game. Given one final opportunity to lift decision-making out of the morass of self-interest, deceit and compromise into which it had fallen, it flunked the test. The outcome on Zimbabwe - self-censorship in return for the loot - was in many ways a triumph for Giles Clarke, the ECB's intelligent and forceful chairman, but it should signal the end for the ICC. Like flared trousers, string vests and the Bay City Rollers, what once seemed a good idea has had its day.

If cricketers should not play against Zimbabwe, why are English companies allowed to trade with impunity? The moral matrix differs not when it comes to trade. Indeed, economic sanctions were the real reason for the change in South African politics, not the sporting ban; anyone who believes different is naive.

Jasu Patel pocketed nine wickets for 69 against Australia. How long did he play?” he fumes. “Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma were undone by Mendis’ pace. Had they played him off the front foot they would have negotiated him easily.”

What went right during the tour in 2003:

"Look, transformation is something you have to face. We are a young sporting nation since readmission, and we face many challenges. One of them is developing the country, what's the right way to handle that, to make it a representative nation? That's not something we can hide from. But one thing I can say in terms of these players here is that I've never seen a team before in which no one doubts anyone else's ability. That shows we're getting somewhere."

For it might have been the first Test series in which the controversial umpire referral system was trialled. But the respective boards could not agree on the finer details, so Sri Lanka and India will become the guinea pigs later this month.

Make no mistake, cricket's greatest brand is what the Ashes are, no matter who sponsors them or how much money the rupee rajahs of the Indian Premier League want to dangle before our eyes. It will endure, too, for as Kevin Pietersen made plain in his newspaper column at the weekend - money cannot buy the feeling he and his team-mates experienced when they won the Ashes at the Oval in 2005.

Revelling in the suggestion that Lord's will see the best set of whiskers in cricket since WG Grace, Amla contemplates his beard proudly. But as his father and sister are both doctors, like Grace, he is not about to claim precedence over the bearded master.

When you're struggling to pick a bowler out of his hand, the usual thing is to play him off the wicket. What was surprising was that many Indian batsmen did not pick his length early enough. The safest option, when you're not quite sure which way the ball will turn, is to play straight and some of our batsmen made the mistake of playing across the line and paid the price.

It's wrong to say Mendis is totally unorthodox. His grip is freaky, yes, but his run-up (a busy, shuffling gait), delivery stride and follow-through are technically very sound. Also, his biggest strength now, the straighter one which is closer to a flipper than a top-spinner, is possible only because he bowls with the shoulder, and has a perfect long-arm release. It's incredibly impressive and correct. He doesn't resort to the laxity in the ICC's elbow flexion rules for effect. He's a delight, the first person after Sachin Tendulkar I would pay to watch

He came from the same rather incestuous, ecclesiastical city as two other slow bowlers of infinite cunning and eyes like an Edwardian poacher from the Forest of Dean, Charlie Parker and Tom Goddard. There was a natural anti-feudal sting to their words, especially that of Charlie, the farm labourer's boy who years later in his cups would quote Marx and the scriptures with equal fervou