Suspicions that Mark Greatbatch, Warwickshire’s director of coaching, is to sweep clean the Edgbaston dressing room seemed to be confirmed when Dougie Brown was dropped for the Championship game against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston.

It was the first time in six years that Brown had been left out of a Championship side for anything other than injury or illness, a moment described by the grizzled allrounder as “the biggest disappointment of my career”. Typically he wasted no time in making a case for a recall. He made a century for the 2nd XI the day after he was dropped and then took five wickets for Scotland in a first-class match against Ireland.

Brown, who joined the county in 1990, remains popular with supporters as the last link with the Lara-inspired side that won county cricket’s first treble in 1994. He has a year left on his contract but is aware of rumours that Warwickshire would be interested in Dominic Cork if he chooses to leave Lancashire and seek a county closer to his Derbyshire home.

Paul Bolton, The Wisden Cricketer