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I have to admit that I thought that Middlesex had a snowball in hell’s chance of beating Durham in the second semi-final at the weekend.  It seemed to me that Durham were simply destined to get to the final against Essex before finals day started, and Kent’s beating of Essex did nothing to dampen my certainty in the outcome of the second semi.  Heigh ho.  Lucky I stopped betting on cricket a few years ago, eh?

Now let’s see what the ECB do about the Champion’s League…

We all know that the ECB was secretly hoping for an Essex - Middlesex final today.  Looks extremely likely now that it’s going to be Durham v Kent.  Here’s wondering what they’re going to do about the Champion’s League now….

For the uninitiated the BCCI (the Indian cricket governing body) has said that any teams fielding players who had played in the unsanctioned ICL won’t be eligible for the Champion’s League.  Neither Essex nor Middlesex had been “guilty” of such action, while both Kent and Durham have refused to bow to the pressure. Theoretically the two finalists from today’s Twenty20 fandango should be going to the Champions’ League.  If Essex and Middlesex had done their bit there wouldn’t be a problem; now, however, it’s going to be conflict between the ECB and the BCCI all over again.

So.  I’ve not written much about cricket for a while.  Not that I’ve lost interest, more that I’ve not had the time or the inclination to talk about a fairly dismal run of English form. Not a fair weather fan, I’d like to point out, but definitely a fair weather blogger.  There’s not much I can add to the comment in the papers, so why bother?

On the current topic, however, I do have something to say.  Who selected Pattinson?  Why?  And if we are to have another surprise selection let’s make it Graham Napier, please.  He’s a fine bowler and his form this season for Essex with both bat and ball makes him deserving of a chance.  Definitely more so than an Aussie that hardly took wickets for Victoria, let alone Notts.

I’m at Edgbaston for day 2 (a week today).  Here’s hoping for a more convincing performance.

Bracewell is returning to Glos. This (to a Gloucestershire supporter) is awesome news.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.  Not long ago the unstoppable force in limited overs cricket, now the whipping boy in near every form of the game. Despite the appalling summer last year they managed to turn a profit, yet this year they’re without a coach and with an ailing side. The latest move to refuse to pay agents’ fees smacks of desperation.

Here’s hoping Bracewell returns to Bristol and brings some much needed form with him.

‘We have decided that the government can make their position clear, but that it is not for us to intervene directly in this matter’

This makes me very angry. I was genuinely pleased that the Gordon Brown government seemed to be willing to step in when Blair wasn’t. I can’t understand why they simply don’t act. A single statement saves a ludicrous amount of trouble.

Booboo, we hardly knew you. Mark Alleyne has been with Glos since I’ve been old enough to take notice of the team sheet. It’s hard to tell if his departure was wholly amicable, but I do hope it was. He’s been an outstanding champion for the club; let alone being the captain that along with John Bracewell took us through our glory years.

The final really didn’t let us down.  To the wire, between two old rivals (and two nations who really can change the shape of international cricket too).

Some say that Twenty20 is a flash in the pan, not real cricket.  Others say that it is the future of the game.  I, for one, have enjoyed the tournament way beyond my expectations.  I am a 5 day cricket lover above all other forms of the sport, but after the dreary fiasco of the World Cup this ICC World Twenty20 has been a real shot in the arm.

Friends who have repeatedly told me that cricket is boring have watched matches without my encouragement.  Friends who are cricket fans who were bored by the world cup have talked incessantly about the performance of teams they previously could not have cared about.

It has been an eye opener.  And it made my experiences of One Day Internationals over the last few years seem rather dull in comparison.  Fifty over cricket has a problem.

Simply put, between overs 20 and 40, with the fifth bowler at one end and the slow guy at the other the match is dead.  We go to the bar, we converse, we wait for the tempo to pick up again.  As Lawrence Booth says, unless teams start thinking that 180 off 20 should equate to 350 off 50 the fifty over game is in trouble.  And if Twenty20 is to replace it, I’m not sure I’m that worried.

Just please please please don’t bugger up 5 day cricket along the way.

A sporting competition ended up with the right result, it would be the word Twenty20 final being India Pakistan.  Here’s hoping it lives up to the billing.

So. England get humiliated by the South Africans 36-0 and a reasonable amount of blame is placed at the door of ex-League superstar, Andy Farrell. The question is asked (yet again) can players change code and continue their careers at the same level?

At the same time, rather overshadowed by the farce of the World Cup, the Guinness Premiership kicked off this weekend, and another code switcher made rather a different debut. Start, as they say, as you mean to go on.

(I’m glad my South African colleague doesn’t care so much for sport. Any other South African I’ve met would be making my life hell all week after both the rugby and the cricket)