Perhaps the summer’s most refreshing and least predictable rebirth has been that of The Other Monty, Richard Montgomerie. The habitually sedate opener’s return to biff-bang duty saw him emerge as the club’s second-top scorer in the C&G group phase and even play in the Twenty20.

“You can be an old 24 or a young 35,” says cricket manager Mark Robinson. “He’s been more improvisational and expressed himself well.” In the last year of his contract but playing well enough to crave another, Montgomerie is hoping for third time lucky against Lancashire at Lord’s: he lost there with Northants in 1995 and 1996. “It was still 60 overs then,” he says. “I always hoped I’d get another chance, so I tried to expand my game, particularly against the spinners. The difference now, I suppose, is I have a bit more belief and because, as Peter Moores said, I know you need match-winning scores not pretty fifties.”

The Wisden Cricketer, Rob Steen