The Surfer

Distance is measured in many different units but, so far, there has never been a unit of measurement that combines distance travelled with the amount of hassle, confusement and jetlag encountered along the way. Now there is: Thandi Miles.

Benaud may have said his last “Morning everyone” on British television, but his task of lifting England fans out of despondency is not over. “I hold exactly the same position that I held 18 months ago, before the last series,” he said. “I said that if England had a fast-bowling attack that was fit and bowling well, they would win the Ashes.

Unlike Muttiah Muralitharan, Laker bowled off breaks in the classic manner. Other than relentless accuracy and the fact that their stock ball turned from off to leg, the two have little in common. Laker was not a conjuror in the way that Muralitharan is. He relied entirely upon line, flight, length and pivot, although, to the young cricketer, he always emphasised the importance of spin. “Concentrate first,” he would say, “on learning how to spin the ball. Then hammer away to control it with length and direction.”

Most manufacturers of cricket equipment offered a single model of bowling boot, and probably still do, though the research and development costs that went into it would have been minimal. Dissatisfaction with the lack of choice and quality caused most serious bowlers to explore other alternatives, which led many to specialist cobblers like Whiting's and Ian Mason in Sutton Coldfield, and Hope Sweeney in Australia.

The left foot of most right-arm bowlers is placed flat on the ground and points down the pitch towards the batsman as the ball is delivered. Yet Flintoff initially lands on his toes with his foot pointing towards fine leg. He then twists it straight as his right arm comes over to bowl, a movement that places a huge strain on a tendon at the back of the ankle. And it is this motion, rather than the tiny fragments of bone in the joint - the diagnosis incorrectly given by the England and Wales Cricket Board after the Trent Bridge Test against Sri Lanka - that is the root of Flintoff's injury.

I think Australia will start favourites. I think it will be a pretty close series. I think it will be 2-1 or 3-2. There won't be much in it. Obviously those scores are in Australia's favour. That goes without saying.

‘Adil's a lovely lad who bristles with a really nice confidence,' Byas says. 'He obviously has limited experience at the moment, but he is capable of batting in the top four or five in domestic cricket. He is also a magnificent spinner - the longer he bowled against Warwickshire, the better he got. Adil is just one of a number of young cricketers from an Asian background who we think an awful lot about. And if they're good enough, they'll play.'

In the previous Test, the third against Sri Lanka, Monty Panesar scored 26 off only 28 balls at No 11. Panesar swept Muttiah Muralitharan for four and six, and when he eased Lasith Malinga through midwicket for three you could tell he had spent some of last winter at Darren Lehmann's academy in Adelaide.