Following our planes, trains and automobiles (and not necessarily in that order) journey from the South of France, we managed to catch about three hours play of day one of the Middlesex-Essex championship division 2 clash at Lord's yesterday.
The old ground looked majestic even under grey skies and a chilly April afternoon, and the unique atmosphere of an English County Championship encounter was like manna from heaven following a couple of particularly tedious meetings in the morning.
The undoubted star of the show was Essex left-armer Reece Topley. The seventeen year old took his second five-fer in successive matches and looked to have a good action and plenty of nip.
We didn't arrive in time to see his first three wickets, and in the first over he bowled just before tea he was carted to the boundary three times.
But given his age and limited experience - this is only his third first-class match - the odd four-ball is to be expected.
What Topley did do well was to come back after tea to mop up the tail, first by bowling Steve Finn after a useful ninth wicket partnership with Olly Rayner and then getting Corey Collymore a couple of balls later.
Reece Topley. Remember the name.
Where next?
Our pilgramage to Lord's - that's Lord's NOT Lourdes
County XI of the week (Round 1)
Ten to watch in 2011: Adam Lyth, Jade Dernbach, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Samit Patel, Alex Hales, Danny Briggs, Ben Stokes, James Harris, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid
An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright
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