The Surfer

Those who cannot stand the heat should stay out indeed, unless they want to end up on saline drips in the dressing rooms of Indore and Jamshedpur. What Gavaskar fails or is unwilling to grasp is the idea that it is not the volume of cricket but rather the sheer intensity of it that creates the problems.

Now a central contract is within his grasp. And, like Michael Atherton before him, he is nicknamed FEC (future England captain). "I've always been a bit laidback, though there are a few things that do make me angry, such as when my TV won't work. I have a terrible track record for breaking stuff." Including records.

A long and thorough look at the rail timetable revealed the only way to get to Indore by train was by heading out of Jamshedpur on the Midnight Express.

Even in a schedule that will soon involve back-to-back one-day internationals in Bangalore and Brisbane, there is still something about the start of an English cricket season which gets the juices flowing. Familiar sounds will be heard ("sorry sir, you can't come into the pavilion without a jacket" … "there will be a further inspection at 4.30"…) and even now, the car park attendants at Leicester and Derby are bracing themselves for the arrival of two Reliant Robins and a bicycle. It fair brings a lump to the throat.

It was not possible for us to file reports while fellow journalists languished in hospital, victims of brutal police assault. To protest this unjust police torture the journalists immediately held a meeting and decided to boycott the Bangladesh-Australia series until the incident was fairly investigated and the guilty police officials were punished.

The 45-inch tall trophy is made of gold, silver and diamonds with Jaipur's famous meenakari work around. There are five players in action at the bottom representing different cricket playing nations. The Indian and Pakistani players are given symbolic colours of their teams — blue and green. They all are playing around five artistic bats, which have intricate designs and are studded with diamonds. The centre part is like a blooming stem unfolding in a flower like platter. This has 10 gold wickets with red ball striking them at from different directions.