The Surfer

The first time Gilchrist played at the WACA, his New South Wales team was thrashed within two days and team-mate Greg Matthews was badly bashed by a nightclub bouncer. The first time Gilchrist appeared at the ground as a Western Australia player, he was booed all the way to the middle and for much of the match by a home crowd angry that local hero Tim Zoehrer had been axed to make way for him.

Sorry that of the 399 men to represent our wide brown land during 130 years of Test cricket, none has been a full-blooded Aborigine. In fact, no full-blooded Aborigine has come close. Jason Gillespie, a descendant of the Kamilaroi people who once populated northern New South Wales, is the only Test player to publicly acknowledge his Aboriginal heritage.

As Australian players prepared to auction themselves off like paintings to share in the riches of the Indian Premier League, and the national team's tour of volatile Pakistan hung in the balance, it could easily have escaped attention that two Test matches against Bangladesh that were written into the Future Tours Program, the blueprint that is supposed to make the cricket world go around, effectively slid off the face of the earth, or at least were postponed until Ricky Ponting's team next comes up for air some time in 2010.

It is perfectly understandable that players would seek to maximise their earning power in the IPL, and they should not go to Pakistan if it is not safe, but if cricket is scheduled primarily for commercial reasons then there will be little reason to play anyone except India and England.

The two changes that he made to the 'official' squad to form the 'Arendse squad' were quite possibly the least radical anybody in South Africa could have come up with. Herschelle Gibbs in for Neil McKenzie and Charl Langeveldt in for Andre Nel. Gibbs and Langeveldt? Herschelle has over 300 international caps and Langers has been established international cricketer for five years and has earned over 50 one-day caps. Where was Lonwabe Tsotsobe and Yousuf Abdullah in Arendse's squad? Where was Henry Davids and Ahmed Amla? At the beginning of the week Arendse spoke of "giving the youngsters a chance...if not against Bangladesh, then when?" His solution was to recall two 33-year-olds, one of whom - Herschelle - is the oldest nationally contracted player and will celebrate his 34th birthday on the 23rd of this month.

International cricket for your country must be the No.1 priority, but let's throw the common sense hat on and say the IPL is not going anywhere and it's a wonderful opportunity for players, spectators and all the fans. Let's make it part of the international schedule and the ICC and the boards can create a new future tours program. Let's find a way for it to work rather than finding a way it can't.

It should be remembered these players have all pledged their loyalty to CA - a body which has helped to turn them into the household names they are today. Officials are keen to point out that these same Australian sponsors - the likes of Travelex, Foster's Group and Commonwealth Bank - help to pour $1 million simply in base contracts and match payments annually into the pockets of most of the top players.

Clements said there was no doubt elite male athletes suffering from depression could find their testosterone-fuelled industry even more difficult to deal with, especially if they believed they needed to adhere to a certain role.

It is believed the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, which is handling the negotiations, has struck two crucial compromises. Under the original contract, Australians would not have been released to play for their states or attend national training camps during the billion-dollar Twenty20 tournament, but that stumbling block has been cleared in the past 48 hours.