The Surfer

Temperamentally, they are from different planets. Plunkett comes across as an all-round athlete who has turned himself into a cricketer by hard, methodical graft. […] Mahmood has more of a natural gift. He lopes in lazily, then coils and uncoils in one loose-limbed blur of movement.

"I've just always been a very shy person, so it's not something I would normally be looking for, to be in the public eye. As a selector for about 10 years, I've let the chairman be the face of the committee, and I was very happy for Trevor to play that role. So, really, I've just stayed to myself, but that obviously is all about to change."

"I'm really enjoying it, but I've only just started. Trevor did tremendously to do it for that length of time, the advantage if you're doing it well. I don't think you put a time frame on it, I think it's a matter of whether you've got the energy and enthusiasm to keep doing it. But I think the reality of the next three or four years is they'll be pretty challenging — there will be changes, and managing those changes will be a real challenge, and I like challenges. Certainly, I see the next three or four years as a pretty critical period for Australian cricket."

So Lara is now back to where he started. Many, like Sir Everton Weekes, will say where he belongs. "He's an intelligent player, he's an intelligent person, and if I were the selectors, I would offer him the job", Weekes, one of the legendary Three Ws, said during the period of conjecture.

The Oval in September became Multan in November and in the big bad world of sporting fame, cricket wasn't quite cutting it. The team wintered in Pakistan and India, not known as Hello! hotspots. Andrew Flintoff was the stand-in captain, levelling the series in Mumbai, but where were the hair extensions, the court convictions, the frolicking-in-the-sea pictures, the shopping excursions?

Here was an action that at first sight was regarded as freakish when in reality, with the huge arc of his bowling arm and the thump of his left foot into the turf, it provided the embodiment of the total use of physical attributes to maximise pace.

“Next year's World Cup in the Caribbean is threatening exploitation on a scale not seen in the region since pirates and colonial overlords plundered it hundreds of years ago. Hotels are the main culprits by tripling rack rates and their barefaced refusal to refund hefty deposits should any plans change.”