On the last day of the one-day league even a par display against Somerset would have ensured double-promotion for Butcher and Son. It did not happen but for the first time since 2002 whinges were scarce, despite a whopping wage bill. There were too many extraordinarily pleasant surprises for that. It did not require a clairvoyant to foresee Mark Butcher staging an assertive comeback or Mark Ramprakash enjoying one of the most run-drunk postwar seasons: 2,993 runs at 74 in all formats. (And no, he was not aware that Bradmanâ..s record average for an English first-class summer â.. 115.66 â.. was in reach when sitting out the final fixture.) But only an exceedingly clever soothsayer would have forecast Ian Salisbury leading the clubâ..s first-class wicket-takers, Nayan Doshi undoing more one-day batsmen than anyone in the country or The Oval becoming the launchpad for Chris Schofieldâ..s comeback. Adieu, sadly, to Martin Bicknell, the unluckiest English bowler of his generation, but welcome to James Benning, who deserves to be the luckiest batsman of his. He is hellish fun to watch, scored more one-day runs (including Twenty20) than anyone on the circuit and may soon allow the national selectors to make partial amends for their dereliction of the excellent Ali Brown.

Rob Steen The Wisden Cricketer