In praise of the Journeyman Pro

To the Brit Oval, now almost as beautiful as Britt Ekland after its 2005 makeover, for Surrey vs Kent in the Friends Provident Trophy (in the bewildering mosaic of English domestic cricket, that's the fifty over competition). Both teams opened their domestic campaigns with heavy defeats in the County Championship and there were times when the body language in the middle suggested that morale was not all it could be for either side, but it is early days yet.

Scorecards revealed that the couple of thousand spectators basking in frightening hot April sunshine would be entertained by a set of players comprising mainly journeymen pros and Test rejects. Kent were quickly reduced to 52-7 by the swing and seam of Mohammad Akram (9 Tests) and Azhar Mahmood (21 Tests), before being rescued by a perfectly judged century by Robert Key (15 Tests) supported by James Tredwell's resourceful hitting from number 9. 271 was never enough with another 55 metre Oval boundary (are there so many TV games at the Oval?), but it needed handy knocks from Scott Newman, Azhar Mahmood and Jonathan Batty before Surrey sealed the win with 7 balls to spare.

One school of thought would tell us that this is the kind of soft cricket that leads to Ashes defeats and World Cup humiliations (both sides gave away no balls by not knowing the rules and some of the fielding wasn't impressive), but it was a good game that was always competitive and swung back and forth with some fine, if not outstanding, skills on show. Not a bad way to spend a sunny London Sunday.

Finally, England's new broom could do a lot worse than looking again at Robert Key, who is not yet 28 years old and showed precisely the kind of calm nous that Paul Nixon has brought to England's innings management. A few decent scores early season should put him back in the selectors' minds. 

[The Tooting Trumpet]