Whistling while they worked

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 Bradman