The Surfer

Murali can go further in advancing his cause. Sometimes it is not enough to be polite. After all, he is visiting the country where he has suffered his worst experiences, the country where his action has been condemned on the field, the land where his most outspoken critics can be found. Moreover, he has not played Test cricket hereabouts for 12 years and is a few wickets shy of replacing the local champion at the top of the rankings. He is entitled to feel as relaxed as a lobster at lunchtime.

"It's going to be a great summer with Sri Lanka and India coming out," Clark said in the Herald Sun. "And hopefully the fans can come out and support us and we can bring home 4-0 and 2-0 series wins." Quizzed further on the prospect of a series whitewash against both India and Sri Lanka, Clark said: "I have just predicted 4-0 and 2-0."

I think some of India’s players chose the gallery to their strength in the games against Australia. They were seen to be aggressive but that isn’t the same thing as being aggressive. I think the drama descended to being churlish sometimes but worse still, in trying to create the illusion of aggression, a couple of young men didn’t quite play to their strengths.

“I haven't played any cricket over the winter and, from a selection point of view, I had no recent form to back my claims.”

"That was a little lifesaver really and has given me some stability financially.”

"After nine holes I decided to check my phone, which is where it all got a bit bizarre. I saw I had a missed call from Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's general manager, cricket operations, and immediately turned to 'Sarf' and said, 'I reckon Marto's retired.' I have no idea why I reacted to the message in that way, but sure enough that's what I was told when I returned Michael's call.”

"It's not for me to say whether Marto's decision to retire was right or wrong. I was disappointed because we had lost an excellent player, someone who'd bailed us out of difficult situations many times in the past," said Ponting. "I was frustrated because I was left answering questions about something I knew nothing about, when one media appearance by him would have cleared the air.”

History tells us that Test cricket began in Australia in the late 19th century when Australia played England. Few know that it was also in Australia that radio commentary originated.

The short format is more spectacular. It encourages batsmen to hit the ball out of the ground for a six, which spectators love. At the halfway mark, the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa averaged eight sixes per three-hour game. By comparison, a series of five test-matches between England and Australia in 2005, rated the most exciting in a 130-year rivalry, averaged less than two sixes a day.

The employment of a foreigner, an Australian, to coach the West Indies team, suggests, at least it does to me, that despite the achievements of West Indians with bat and ball and as captain, and even though a West Indian has been the president of the ICC, the Board has no faith in its own people, not to do a heart transplant, not to rid the world of a plague, but to coach a cricket team - their own cricket team.

One may argue that Atapattu was originally selected and then he on his own opted to stay out because of his differences with the chief selector Asantha de Mel. But, we are talking about a thirty seven year old man who played his last Test match against India way back in December 2005, where he scored 40 and 16 in a match that Sri Lanka lost by 259 runs at Ahamedabad.