www.thetimes.com/article/679e... For the second time in five seasons this hack was able to cover the championship decider for the Times yesterday. This after 33 previous years' reporting that rarely offered a sniff. Giving up hope of ever seeing Northamptonshire prevail, though, I'm afraid.

Entirely echo the posts about the sad loss of Rob Steen. In my ten years working from London in the '90s, he and I were frequently in the same press box (and bar) and also shared the same publisher. A top man who was still offering acute comment by email from afar. Another good 'un has gone.

Someone up there is trying to rain on Notts' parade! Against all forecasts - and while the rest of the country continues to enjoy late September sunshine - we've now had no fewer that two stoppages at Trent Bridge. Blue skies re-emerging, though, as I write. Covering the match for the Times.

Visibility outstanding today: three hours after the exact moment of the autumn equinox, looking SW from this 1210-ft trig above Halldale in the White Peak, we made out the Long Mynd, 65 miles distant on the far horizon. With an anticyclone established, weather's now perfect for the Champo finale.

Delighted my instinct was wrong and Surrey did not prevail in their epic with Notts. Nothing whatever against the Brown Hatters (some of my fondest boyhood memories are of the Oval) but crucial for the Championship that one side doesn't utterly dominate. Covering Notts v Warks for Times next week.

Before a ball was bowled at the Oval today I'd emailed colleagues to say Surrey would win and that the title would thus very probably be decided by tomorrow afternoon. If only for the sake of restoring a hint of openness to Champo cricket, I fervently hope my prediction proves as fallible as ever.

The score is 8-2 to Surrey against Notts. This the number of England Test players per side, of course. Notts also have the present S African Test 'keeper. Surrey are not fielding an official overseas player but as usual have Worrall, the sometime Aus 1-Day international. David and Goliath, perhaps?

Here’s a poem called ‘English Roundabouts’.

Leics officially confirmed as promoted after their uniquely poor run of 22 successive seasons outside the top tier. A superb effort this year. They are candidates for Team of the Summer.

If the forecasts are right most of the afternoon's play on both Wed and Thurs will be lost at Oval and New Rd. I'd predict, however, that Surrey will win if the equivalent of even 5-6 sessions prove possible overall in London. Thus vital that Notts win too in Worcester but play already hit by rain.

Why not simply do a deal with the PCA which agrees the max number of games in each competition a player will complete. That way the individual will never be required to play more than 12 Champo fixtures, say, but the county will still play 14. By the way, very few players ever play all 14 already

The surprise, I think, is that it's taken so long for this dilemma to risk becoming perennial. Dosh from variants of T20 has been around for some time, after all. Welcome though Kohli's passionate endorsement was of Tests, not IPL, batters have a luxury which injury-stalked bowlers can only envy.

Further to my earlier post, I strongly suggest first just listening to this piece via the previous link to avoid distraction. Only then move on to this link below to see the astounding staging. Ignore the Dutch sub-titles: words are in fact a 17th-C John Donne poem. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlUH...

Have posted about this before: friends are tired of my banging on about it. But was glad to hear composer Nico Muhly select it on R3's 'This Classical Life' this w'end. "Beyond great" he commented. Of short pieces written this century none has affected me more. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDTF...

What’s got a better ring to it, Taliban Nigel or Taliban Farage?

This is magnificent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMN9...

Nice to find the route to the spire reclaimed by nature

Might England reflect on the wisdom of including a 21-year old who'd played precisely two f-c inns in seven months and whom they'd encouraged to pursue only T20 cricket? 'Blame' is a team thing. But Bethell's shot when five was the key lapse in a game that had become easier to win than to lose.

Atkinson & Overton have each played just 2 champo games for Surrey this season, taking a combined 8-413. Bethell & Root the spinners; former has played 2 red-ball inns in the last 224 days and taken 2 wkts. Whatever else you can say of the deciding Test newcomers, they shouldn't be too fatigued!

Never not loving Scotland .. the land of the brave Miss you Dr Janey x

Tells you all you need to know about these charmers, really, doesn't it?

Ralphie Albert, the Surrey Academy left-arm spinner who doesn't turn 18 until October, returned 16-3-53-6 at Chelmsford this afternoon as Eng U-19s gained a first-innings lead over India U-19s of 30 runs in the 2nd 'Test'. Not in Farhan Ahmed territory, obviously, but great to see young spin redux

Yorks "can confirm that its membership is in favour of the Championship remaining at 14 games per season but is comfortable with the Vitality Blast reducing to 12 games...the Board will reflect the views of its members when it places its vote with the ECB later this month". YCC site; sanity up north

www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/n... The sham of 'Salt Walk' is big news. Let me direct you to the account of a longer, far more arduous independent walk, true in every detail. Its pages predicted the world of Trump a decade before he arrived. You may dispute their philosophy. But our 780 miles were fact

What credible national professional sport body in the world allows its premier competition to be two-thirds completed without anyone knowing what teams are actually playing for? Relegation/promotion? Number of sides per division? ECB's contempt for the county game is breathtaking. Shambles prevails

Makes total sense. It remains a farce that England's premier competition does not even rest on a fixture schedule with intrinsic equity. What other sport worldwide would decide a league on the basis of clubs meeting some opponents home and away but others only once? Hope Surrey gain widest support

@chrisgpackham.bsky.social Ever seen anything like this? I've edited and slowed down (quarter speed) the key frame of a phone video made last week in Limoges. A swallow bombs a magpie - the attacks made repeatedly until magpie was driven off from his niche at cathedral! Nicking the insects maybe?

“So, multimillionaire Rod Stewart, what was it that attracted you so much to the Reform Party which plans to wipe out UK tax for multimillionaires?”

"new competition, set to debut in 2026, looking to inspire state-school participation in cricket". About bleedin' time!

The delivery that ended Jacob Bethell's first red-ball innings since before Christmas. After 40 slow-motion replays in an effort to be fair to the lad I still couldn't determine whether he hit it. But the umpire said he did - that's all you should need to know.

Josh De Caires included in the Middx XI today. In this year's campaign he becomes the 14th son of a father who also played Champo cricket. Another Josh (Davey) has just completed his first 50 for Som since being asked to open the batting. I'm covering the game for the Times at Edgbaston. 145-0.

My 2nd ever live cricket was at Headingley for 3rd day of the 1st Test v India - 58 years and ten days before the present iteration! England won (they always did in home Tests v India back then) but only after the mass of runs I saw from Pataudi, Engineer and Wadekar. O my Bishen Bedi long ago....

"Test cricket embodies life – you give your best, and if things go wrong, it gives you another day to regroup, think, unlearn, and bounce back. It is the highest form of the game that teaches you endurance, discipline and adaptability, against all odds." Well said, Sachin. Little of this true of T20

Life's disappointments: not all Peak Dist National Park sights are idyllic. And I've been switched by the Times from covering Notts v Yorks from Sunday to reporting Warks v Som - the Bethell Effect! Total walked miles in 2025 now 1022.5 with 47,602m (156,175ft) in ascents. Quarries included

Went past the 1000-mile mark for 2025 today. Not bad for a former opening bowler 27 years senior even to Jimmy Anderson! 1011.5 miles walked so far this year, inclusive of 47,360 metres (155,380ft) in combined ascents. Resting to cover Notts v Yorks champo game at TB for Times from Sunday 22nd!

Ah, the memories, Kev. Mendips, St James's - and Colin Dredge. "O my Dasher Denning long ago", taken so cruelly early.

Old Alf Dubs, once MP for Battersea, was the Desert Island Discs guest this morning. Chose John Coltrane among his tracks, walking boots for his luxury and Germinal for his book. Top man! And, stone me, he even selected Bandiera Rossa - a first for DID, possibly for the BBC itself. Avanti Alf!

An old comrade in Canada has just sent me this. Cannot fault the sentiment.

Summit of Soles Hill, 1168ft, White Peak. Perfect breeze up there and at least 3 degrees C cooler than town. What you call an escape - worth every inch of a 16-mile walk!

All praise PDF! Hallelujah.

FREE high resolution download poster 👇👇👇 we.tl/t-92ClDUVfYE

Good grief they've reincarnated Ginger Baker again to announce the squad for the opening Test. This Artificial Intelligence business is really getting out of hand.

To close this arcane topic, I think I can now definitively state that the following 13 constitute the full list of those in 2025's 4-day campaign SO FAR whose fathers also played Champo cricket: Bairstow Banton Carse Curran(S) D'Oliveira Haynes Killeen Middleton Mike Sales Shaw Vaughan Wells. Phew!

Scott Pelley—American author and reporter for CBS News for more than 31 years, did not hold back

Your occasional reminder that in two years' time, Nigel Farage will be taking his gold plated £73,000 annual EU pension.

Dear Viz, I saw the cyber attack on M&S left them having to shift a load of high-end stock they couldn't offer online. For tea today I bought two cordon-bleu chocolate eclairs for 7p as their sell-by date loomed. I'm hoping the brewers of Newcastle Brown may now have similar problems

“I sit on a man's back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible… except by getting off his back.” Leo Tolstoy

The funeral of John Curtis, friend and fellow journo through 38 seasons - why going to New Road was always so welcome - did him proud. Beneath Bredon Hill ("summertime on Bredon"), at possibly the most wonderfully sited crem in Britain, the turnout of players brought credit to cricket and Worcs CCC.

The way up...and the top. Eee, the White Peak; nowt like it!