The Surfer

The most disturbing aspect of this sorry saga has been the absence of rational thought. The customarily temperate have been intemperate and so the issue has broadened to encompass nationalism and social and moral mores. The game has not been strong enough to prevent it from running out of control. Most irrational and damaging of all was the call for the axing of Ponting as captain at a time when it is widely acknowledged that he is maturing into a leader of some stature who can be compared favourably with renowned predecessors.

As a player, you are only an injury or a form slump from being out of a job. Jewell is often targeted by quick bowlers because Shipperd has banned him from hooking or pulling after a run of dismissals a couple of seasons back. Opposing captains crowd him with close fieldsmen, and bowlers aim at his ribcage. Jewell, the son of former Richmond player and coach Tony Jewell, uses his father's words to explain where he is coming from. "Dad always talks about that, coming from his footy background, just how physically, but also mentally, strong cricketers have to be," he says. "As a batsman you've got 11 on two out there, sometimes 11 on one and a bloke bowling a rock and he's trying deliberately to do damage to you. It's a confronting game."

It is interesting that despite losing two successive Tests, the Indian cricket captain is still respected, and after winning 16 Tests in a row, there are calls in his own country for the Australian captain to be sacked.

Time to shake the tree. Sacking the captain was the only story remotely dramatic enough to bring everything out into the open. And so the article was written. It had almost been sent earlier in the match but a fever had taken hold and the thought occurred that mood might have been affected. But the point was valid. The leadership had failed.

"Bring the boys back home," said one, as though they were caught in some war zone fighting for national honour. Long on hysteria and short on fact, it was typical of the journalism without rigour that has become India's stock in trade.

Somehow, Australia always seem to get the rub of the green at home. Visiting teams have been getting furious with umpires there since Don Bradman refused to walk when Jack Ikin was convinced that he had caught him early on England’s first postwar tour, and probably long before.

Yes, we all agree the cricket world has gone totally mad, but the parameters have been set by the politically correct world that is smothering the sport ... If Mike Procter finds Hogg guilty and suspends him, all of Australia will scream: "You are kidding. For what?" If he finds him not guilty, India's billion-plus cricket fanatics will claim racial bias, particularly as Harbhajan was rubbed out for three Tests.

Kumble tried to reason with him, repeated that Harbhajan had made no racist remark, something Ponting knew, and no offence was intended.

Indian cricket is twitching and hasn’t been sleeping. It’s been up all night on the phone, talking across time zones. It needs to be treated with respect and taken seriously.