Mark Pennell

With a strong work ethic and a moral compass that many a modern-day player would do well to follow, Mike Denness helped build and maintain the glory days of Kent cricket

Kent's winter recruit Ben Harmison has arrived to put down roots in the garden of England and prove a point to his former paymasters at Durham

Glamorgan will aim to finish the County Championship campaign on a high by securing only their second win on the road this season after reducing fellow Division Two strugglers Kent to 148 for 5

Barely 100 hardy souls witnessed the closing overs of the second day of Kent's experimental championship clash against Glamorgan

History was made in Canterbury as floodlit championship cricket with a pink ball came to the St Lawrence ground for the first time

Surrey's County Championship clash with second division rivals Essex petered out into a draw in Croydon, but not before Essex had flirted with the cricketing equivalent of hara-kiri

A game that produced 1,000 runs inside eight sessions appears destined to finish as a tame, high-scoring draw after the captains of Surrey and Essex failed to reach any form of run-chase deal in Croydon

The Surrey and Essex faithful came to Croydon to watch England star Kevin Pietersen bat, but left for home marvelling over Graham Napier's astonishing display of pyrotechnics

While Pakistan were being humbled at Trent Bridge, one of their former one-day stars Azhar Mahmood continued to roll back the years with a match-winning performance for Kent over Essex

It was a day of notable role reversal for Kent old-boys David Masters and Matthew Walker, who marked their return to the St Lawrence ground with performances that nigh-on broke Kentish hearts

Former Essex captain Mark Pettini revealed a more tenacious side to his game in a ding-dong battle at the St Lawrence ground where the visitors edged to within 77 of avoiding the follow-on against Kent

Injuries to Ravi Bopara and Maurice Chambers gave Kent a slightly unfair advantage on the opening day in Canterbury where the hosts closed on 360 for 6

Essex batting heroes Mark Pettini and Matthew Walker shared the Man-of- the-Match honours after a stunning second-wicket partnership worth 147

When Botham asked for spikes of a different kind

How a wannabe medium-pacer was turned into a keeper by a priest

Belief is the vital if intangible ingredient that, according to Middlesex director of cricket Angus Fraser, has helped turn around the club's disastrous start to the County Championship campaign

The opening game of the Bangladeshi tour of England petered out into a chilly and predictable draw in SE11 where helicopter traffic over No10 Downing Street captured the attention as much as the cricket

When it comes to their respective heights, about a foot or so separates Bangladeshi batsmen Mohammad Ashraful and Jahurul Islam, yet in terms of Test experience the two stylish right-handers remain poles apart