“Australia knew how to beat England at Adelaide last winter after conceding a first innings of more than 550 because they had the template. India, propelled by Dravid, had done exactly the same to Australia in 2003-04.

“I was coming to realise just how strongly the players believed in their ability to beat anyone in Indian conditions.. the downside was how much of that self-belief ebbed away the moment our plane left Indian airspace. There was almost an expectation that things would go wrong.

“The Indian board divide the players on central contracts into three categories of A (five million rupees per year, or just over £60,000), B (3.5m rupees) and C (2m rupees). It is a sure way to damage team spirit, especially as it is mainly batsmen who are in category A while the pace bowlers languish in C.

“Indian cricketers are as famous as Bollywood film stars, and used to behave like them. When John Wright went to India’s first team practice the players got off their bus, leaving their kit behind, and sauntered over to the nets, there to sit in wicker chairs while waiters brought them tea and biscuits and porters lugged their kit around. When the Indian players held a team meeting the junior ones would walk around the room handing out snacks to the senior ones. Most of them were so pampered they were seriously short of physical fitness. About the pace they set when they did go for a run, Wright wrote, “I told them I had to rub my eyes to make sure they were moving.

“When England and India meet in the second Test at Trent Bridge at the end of next month, it will be India’s 200th Test match abroad. Of these they have won only 28. Deduct easy wins in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and they have won only 21 since 1932.

“Jazz will allow a programmer to send an instant message to a colleague with source code. Rather than see static text, the receiver could click to see where the code fits into the application, the original requirements and relevant tests.

“What happens when your cheerleader quits on you? You get a much less responsive crowd, that’s what. Or you get dropped. Something like that.

“Do you ever wonder about the stories behind everyday products? What names were Procter & Gamble considering before they finally picked “Swiffer”? (Springle? Sweepolio? Dirtrocker?) What flavors of Pop-Tarts never made it out of the lab, and did any involve lychee, the devil’s fruit? What magical prototype Apple products will never be seen, forever relegated to some giant, Wonka-esque industrial design factory that might exist only in my imagination? (“Oompa, loompa, diggity-dack: come take a peek at this dodecahedron-Mac!”)

“In the high-tech world, divergence devices have been spectacular successes. But convergence devices, for the most part, have been spectacular failures.

“Gilchrist was the difference between Sri Lanka and Australia at the World Cup final.