Mike Smith, the left-armer who served the club so ably for 14 summers, sincerely hopes his erstwhile new-ball partner Jon Lewis does not go the same way Smith did after making a much-longed-for Test debut.

“Nobody deserves to play for England as much as Jon,” says Smith, who won a solitary cap against Australia in 1997 and might have had more had Graham Thorpe not dropped a simple catch in the slips when Matthew Elliott had barely begun his match-winning 199. “Before the first Test against Sri Lanka he’d taken more wickets this season than Flintoff, Hoggard and Plunkett put together.”

Smith also contends that Lewis, who grabbed four wickets in the Twenty20 win over Australia, was not given enough credit for his part in the Ashes triumph. “Jon was the catalyst, because it was that victory which gave England the belief they could beat the Australians. He had one bad game [in the NatWest Series], but who hasn’t against Australia?

“There’s very little to choose between Jon and Matthew Hoggard. Jon bowls at the same pace, bats better and fields better, so there’s no reason why he can’t [achieve] the same.”
Rob Steen, The Wisden Cricketer