The Surfer

"We want to try and do a proper, orchestrated research project," Brown said. "If we are serious about this issue - to get a better day-night cricket ball and a ball we could possibly use in Test cricket - we need to understand the constraints, which is what the MCC are doing ... We need to factor in the practical cricket people, the scientists, the people who make the leather, the cricket ball manufacturers. We see this as being a really serious project that could have lots of implications, but you've got to understand, too, it could go nowhere.”

Whether it's the Rajsamand Pelicans or Jhunjunu Dragons, they greet you revealing a set of canines that could never add up to a friendly grin. Even the usually-docile camel seems to acquire predatory pouts under the Barmer-district banner. Lalit Modi's fetish for team names, elaborate logos, and scope for merchandising can be traced back to two seasons ago when he decided to distribute these tags to 32 districts, which now play under these banners.

"Cricket first developed on village greens such as Hambledon; it looks as though it may come to an end at Bangalore," a former editor of the Times wrote yesterday, deploring Twenty20's success. Strip away the cheerleaders, the film stars, the promotion and the players' salaries, however, and I'll bet that last weekend's inaugural IPL match was closer to the game played by Hampshire landowners and rustics on Broadhalfpenny Down in the middle of the 18th century than the weird, distended, passionless version enacted at various county grounds last week.

He has taken an unlikely character under his wing. Dinesh Salunkhe is a swarthy 25-year-old from Bombay who last year was an anonymous club player ... Warne likes him. "He's got a positive attitude and learns fast. The important thing about leg-spin is not where the ball lands but how it gets there. You vary your grip, trajectory and position on the crease, and you can make two apparently similar balls totally different."

The culture of cricket now seems to be going the way of Troy, or indeed of the Roman Empire. The glory of cricket, with its intelligence and the complexity of the interplay, is sinking into the past; we are moving, surprisingly rapidly, into the dumbed-down cricket of Twenty20. Cricket first developed on village greens such as Hambledon; it looks as though it may come to an end at Bangalore.

Whether to enjoy Sourav Ganguly's dismissal or to celebrate Ishant Sharma's pace magic in shattering their own Rahul Dravid's stumps.

In affectionate remembrance of the hope that the England cricket team would soon win a global one-day tournament, which died, at home, on April 18, 2008, while the rest of the world celebrated the birth of the Indian Premier League at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. The health of the team itself had been undermined by the loss of grave quantities of money offered by a circle of Indian friends. The body will be cremated and the ashes scattered on the Ganges. - with apologies to Reginald Shirley Brooks, the Times, 1882.

But the organisers of the IPL seem, at this stage, to have missed a couple of tricks - and they could prove extremely, perhaps terminally, damaging. Yesterday, sandwiched between the successes in Bangalore and Delhi, came a match in Mohali in front of a stadium that was half-full - a match which saw a superb century by Mike Hussey set up a 33-run victory for the Chennai Super Kings.

Fletcher is at home in Cape Town, "waiting for something interesting to come along", as he puts it. He's in no rush. He is also unusually philosophical. There have been offers of employment, but life has not been without its complications since his resignation from the England job a year ago yesterday.

Not being one to want sympathy, it's not a subject he talks about easily, but his delightful wife, Marina, has been unwell. Cricket has quite rightly been put on the back-burner. For long periods Fletcher has been in charge of domestic duties. For a dedicated family man - a proud grandfather now - it has been a difficult time. Thankfully the worst appears to have passed.

Following his pyrotechnics he was taken to a party in Bangalore, attended by both teams, where he was schmooozed by Khan and an array of India's Bollywood and industrial giants. McCullum was apparently impressed with Khan's passion for cricket and his humility. The star, who is as recognisable in India as Brad Pitt is in Cailfornia, introduced McCullum to his family and the two chatted for the best part of an hour.

I know Friday's game was being seen as Sourav versus Rahul and Saturday's game being spoken of as Dhoni versus Yuvraj, but at the end of the day it will be teams who will take each other on, and not just a couple of individuals.