The Surfer

Much more of this and the Australians will be downgrading their Ashes alert from critical to something a good deal less than severe. The commando camp they've set up in Queensland will have to be replaced by more traditional methods of preparing for the Poms. "Now then lads, we'll all meet up in the pub the day before the first Test, and drinking is strictly limited to 12 large tinnies per player."

Ricky Ponting and the rest of Cricket Australia's 25 contracted players will arrive in Brisbane next Tuesday night and be herded to an undisclosed location under the cover of dawn the following morning. It is believed Survivor-style food-gathering exercises will be among the tasks. John Buchanan is the brainchild behind the back-to-basics camp that has been organised by Dickason, a former undercover policeman who hides behind dark sunglasses and a bristling moustache.

On a day when it was announced that Marston's Pedigree were the team's "official" beer, Pietersen's decision to dispense with any kind of initial reconnaisance made you wonder whether he'd also been appointed as the beer's official taster.

It was Pakistan’s day and if the England supporters were disappointed, they didn’t seek to assault the opposition in revenge. And across the country, as people watched on television or listened to the radio, the match was enjoyed in a way that was - almost certainly - cheerful, enthusiastic, appreciative and utterly without fanaticism.

You can’t forget the sacking [from the post of Indian team coach in 1996], can you?

One cannot understand the South Africans indecent hurry to skip the tournament, considering the fact the Interim Committee, even bent backwards to promise them the best of security.

Any criticism of South Africa's decision should also be tempered, to an extent, by the understanding that safety is a very personal concept. They are not used to such incidents on as regular a scale and thus likely to react differently.

The search for John Buchanan's replacement as Australian cricket coach will begin in the next month, with Tim Nielsen and Tom Moody emerging as favourites. A Cricket Australia sub-committee, which includes former captains Mark Taylor and Allan Border, will discuss who should guide Australia through a major rebuilding era.