The Surfer

"I believe that his departure will leave a void that will be difficult to fill"

With so many injuries and the batting having had limited exposure on this tour so far, I would expect Pakistan to approach the Lords Test with a great deal of caution.

My ears usually pop shortly after going in, but then the effect is the same as taking a dive 14 metres under water. It’s basically like taking a dry dive. I haven’t dived properly before. I’ve always liked the idea of it, but I’ve actually been pretty scared. Unsurprisingly, it’s not quite as scary doing it without any water, but one bright spot of this recuperation process is that I think I may have conquered my fear of diving. So next time I have a holiday, I think I may be heading underwater.

Until Andrew Flintoff and Simon Jones last summer, old cricket balls were mostly useful in Pakistani hands. Explanations for reverse swing came within quotation marks, accompanied by winks and nods - "working hard on the ball" or "rough outfields help" mostly meant "show me a finger nail/bottle top and I'll show you a collapse". Last summer reverse swing became a science. Vindicated Pakistanis blustered. They might also have pondered the role of the tape ball - a tennis ball covered with electrical tape.

"But I was confident and I trusted in my ankle, it's a lot stronger after the rehab. I didn't have any strapping on it. I've had another scan and I'm still waiting for the reports, but I'm hopeful. I need to bowl more overs now, so I'll play in the Twenty20 at Headingley on Tuesday, and in the championship match against Kent, and see how I come out of that."

“It now costs £906 for the cricket club to ensure that they can run a beer tent -something that has always operated in the past with no public nuisance problems. They must also have a designated premises supervisor, who holds an accredited licensing qualification, requiring an examination involving much time and commitment.”

While kids in England were watching football on the telly, their counterparts in Pakistan were bowling and batting in whatever space they could find and with whatever implements came to hand. As in India, the route from the streets to the stadiums is circuitous and littered with obstacles and injustices. But in Pakistan it tends often to be a shorter leap, and more of the elan of street cricket — the hustle, the improvisatory spirit — survives in the Pakistani game. Combine that with sophistication of technique and discipline, and you have a cricket team that's both competitive and entertaining.