Roll on Essex v Middlesex

The draw for finals day of the Twenty20 Cup, which will be at the Rose Bowl on July 26, will be made this evening after the match between Warwickshire and Kent (and before we find out how the Yorkshire/Durham mess has been resolved). For the game's sake, we need the draw to throw together Essex and Middlesex in the semi-finals. This isn't out of any desire as a proud Essex supporter to be drawn against - and beat - our historic rivals early but because a final between Essex and Middlesex is exactly what the ECB wants to get it out of having to make a tough decision.

The two finalists in this year's Twenty20 Cup will qualify for the inaugural Champions League this autumn, with £2.5 million at stake, but the Indian cricket board, pushed by the Indian Premier League, has been demanding that no county with players who were involved in the unauthorised Indian Cricket League can be sent to represent England. As chance would have it, only Essex, Middlesex and Somerset lack players with ICL ties.

An Essex v Middlesex final would therefore allow the ECB to tell India that it would have been tough on ICL-linked counties if only any of them had qualified. It would mean that the ECB doesn't have to stand up for players' rights to free trade or for counties' rights to sign who they want. It would avoid a potentially ghastly diplomatic row.

Heck, if the final turns out to be Kent v Durham then the ECB may have to do one of its famous volte-faces about past England results in order to satisfy India. How about putting that Test England won in Bombay in 2006 down as a draw instead, so that India won the series 1-0? After all, it was hardly fair that we should pick Shaun Udal, a bowler whom India must have been unaware of, as our second spinner.

It's just ironic that Middlesex's progress towards the face-saving final with Essex could be dependent on how well Udal bowls in the semi.