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Having ended 2001 at No 135 in the world he surged up to inside the top 20. He is a wonderful talent and it would not surprise me to see him as a Grand Slam contender. Of Britain’s players, Alex Bogdanovic has done well and improved steadily.What are your personal hopes and ambitions for the year?An injury-free year on the seniors circuit would be nice after two bad years with knee problems and a couple of arthroscopic operations. However, they were the first two bad years I have had in a long playing career. I was also able to expand my TV commentating in 2002 and would like to keep that going. And, who knows, Britainmight be interested one of these days in offering me and my brother David further involvement in the game’s future!If you could change or improve one aspect of your sport, what would it be?Tennis needs to be better promoted. I went to the recent women’s world championships in Los Angeles, and all the players could talk about was how tired they were Quite rightly, the local media ripped into them.

Footballers are tired by the time the FA Cup final comes round, American footballers are tired by the time of Super Bowl Yet the women were getting $50,000 each just for turning up. They should remember people with a 9 to 5 job are tired, too.Interview by Ronald Atkin. As if it is not possible to have too much of a good thing, an England team embark on Tuesday for a cricket tour of Australia. This time, it is the Under-19s who will leave a winter of fireside and poorly lit indoor nets to enter the lions’ den. If he can survive the next six weeks, he can probably anticipate sooner rather than later the long international career for which he has long planned.Shafayat had a bat thrust into his hand at the age of eight, partly because the game was in his heritage, partly because there was a council scheme. “My dad is very keen on the game and he took my brother and me along to keep us off the streets,” he said.He has a healthy regard for his own abilities, which he must try to ensure he does not overstate too soon.

But to make it in the big league you need to have something else besides technique. Last summer, when Shafayat was breaking records for the Under-19s and firmly establishing himself in the Nottinghamshire middle order, he was being given some verbal stick by the opposition in one game and scratched around for a half-century. When he was dismissed, he passed the ring of fielders and said: “Thanks for the net, boys.”Shafayat is part of the Asian diaspora who are likely to form a significant proportion of England’s cricket team in the future (and indeed, he himself is a smart tip already as a potential captain). The squad bound for Australia includesa Muslim, a Hindu and a Sikh.As an example of multi-cultural Britain it takes some beating It is noticeable that the players simply do not notice it. In the Under-9 to Under-19 age-group squads in the 38 English counties, 9.2 per cent had an Asian background in 2001. The proportion of players in county cricket is seven per cent.Shafayat admits still to an affinity with Pakistan, but there is absolutely no confusion about his allegiance “The way I was brought up makes Pakistan very important. It’s always been stressed how important your background and roots are I go back every year.