Poor timing

You may wonder why I have posted nothing on the mighty Essex Eagles' triumph at the weekend over the Kent Spitfires in the Friends Provident Trophy. Well, I don't like to gloat...

But who on earth thought that Saturday was a good day to host the year's flagship one-day final? The cricket was fighting for space with the start of the Premiership football season and the multisports jamboree going on in China. Poor timing by the ECB. Why can't the final be at the start of September as it always used to? I know the dew used to affect the ball early on, but by moving the final forward two weeks, combined with the early finish to the Test series, it seems that the season is over with a month still to go.

The game was a bit too dominated by southern African batsmen for my taste. First Martin van Jaarsveld, from the Transvaal, and Ryan McLaren, from Cape Province, made half-centuries for Kent, then Grant Flower, of Zimbabwe, and Ryan Ten Doeschate, of the Netherlands but born in Cape Province, saw Essex home. It would have been nice if one of the stellar English-qualified batsmen could have played a big innings, but Rob Key, Joe Denly, Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara made only 58 between them.

Flower was man of the match for his unbeaten 70, but I hope the selectors paid close attention to how well, yet again, James Foster kept wicket, standing up to the new ball and not conceding a single bye. Essex didn't bowl one wide in 50 overs either, which must be a very rare event. Foster's biggest aim must be to make lots of runs, though, as the selectors rate those more highly than smart wicketkeeping. He made 18 on Saturday, but more importantly he stayed in for 16 overs and provided sharp support for Flower as Essex recovered from 93 for four to 161 for five when Foster was out. Such a cool head and the ability to play for the team is what England need. I hope Geoff Miller was watching.

Comments

[Patrick Kidd]

Actually I was wondering when summer was going to start!

[Innocent Abroad]

The reason that the Tests and the One-Day Final have already taken place is because summer is over early.

You must have noticed, Patrick.