The Surfer

Even in Napier and Wellington, matches that England won in the winter, and at Lord's last week, in conditions more familiar to England, New Zealand's run-rate was comfortably superior. (At Old Trafford, in the first innings, England scored at 2.58 per over, New Zealand at 4.21.)

Full of face, receding of hairline, ready of smile, Strauss has the avuncular look of everybody's favourite team-mate. He even wears the red and blue of England on his bat handle.

Rao’s exploits in IPL have taken bowlers by surprise. Not known as a batsman who strikes the ball hard and clean, Rao has hit 14 sixes and 19 boundaries in the tournament so far, taking Hyderabad agonisingly close to victory from hopeless situations in two games.

It is no exaggeration to say that Jones's initial six-over spell for Worcestershire on Tuesday might prove to be one of the important passages of domestic cricket this season. It screeched the message that Jones is back. It stated emphatically that light has at last flooded Jones's injury-crammed tunnel. And it raised the intoxicating possibility that Flintoff and Jones, reverse-swing destroyers of Australia in 2005, might yet join forces in England shirts again. It was truly uplifting.

In a playing sense, the most obvious difference between the current Australian side and that which clinched the Ashes 5-0 two summers ago is the lack of a dominant spinner. Stuart MacGill struggled with injury in two Tests against Sri Lanka, and Brad Hogg was decoded by the Indians after the first Test in Melbourne. Now surgically-repaired and streamlined, MacGill will be heavily scrutinised in the second innings at Sabina Park, where conditions should suit.

There is not a single person in the board who knows [about] cricket. None of them have even played first class cricket. That’s why they are only ‘yes-men’, and authorities always look for such people. It’s a one-man-show in the team. The chairman of the board is there because he has the backing of higher authorities. You can easily evaluate his tenure. For the last nine or 10 years, ad-hocism has always prevailed in the country.

The foreign players are already here: how strange is it that Shane Warne should be captain of Rajasthan? I’m not sure we’ll ever get to the Premiership’s ratio of 62 per cent foreigners — India has more excellent cricketers than Britain has good football players — but, all over the cricket world, foreign players are dying to play for the IPL because the money is so good. I suspect that the notion of a truly local team is now dead. It may survive for the Ranji Trophy but fewer and fewer people will watch those games.

As he walked out he exchanged good-to-be-back smiles with his fellow Australian umpire Simon Taufel and accepted handshakes and a pat on the back from Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood. He even had a chat with Ian Bell at the end of the first over. The Barmy Army trumpeter played Jerusalem. The Hair charm offensive was under way.

Having robbed the raucous Wankhede Stadium crowd of their breath and all dreams of victory, at the presentation Yuvraj then acerbically thanked spectators for their "support" and drove the knife in, "It was pretty one-sided for Mumbai. Just don't forget some of the Punjab boys also play for India."