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As some of you will recall, when Surrey retained the County Championship in 2000, they went into the second half of June with two defeats and just one win behind them. My feeling at the time was that they had taken their eye off the ball slightly and that all they needed to do was rediscover their ruthless streak. If, as the pop star Lily Allen proposed, when she was interviewed by Jonathan Agnew on Test Match Special, the Ashes should have been played over nine Tests instead of five, I cannot help feeling that Australia would have come out on top; much as Adam Hollioake's side did back in 2000. What was the point of Australia calling in Saqlain Mushtaq to tell Nathan Hauritz how he should bowl at the Oval only to leave their only front-line spinner out of the last Test? Although I am chuffed that England have won back the Ashes, there is no getting away from the reality, which is that they are still a very average side; even with Pietersen to come back in (mind you, his Achilles injury must be pretty serious if it has ruled him out of the Bangalore Royal Challengers' participation in the Twenty20 Champions League in October). If, as we saw with players like Matt Prior, England upped their game because it was the Ashes, they will surely come a cropper in South Africa this winter. But, I'm not going to go too far down that road, having predicted that the Aussies were going to retain the urn. The wicket Bill Gordon prepared for the Oval Test provoked quite a bit of discussion. I think Bill should be congratulated for producing a strip that ensured there would be a positive result, given that, at one stage, it looked as though it would have been in England's interests if the fifth Test had been a nailed-on draw. Alec Stewart's suggestion that Bill should be given a knighthood certainly wound up the Australian press. At one stage they were moaning that it was a "whoever wins the toss wins the match" type of wicket, but, as we all saw, the game came down to the complacency Australia's batsmen showed on the second afternoon. For whatever reason, all of Surrey's four-day games at the Oval have so far ended in stalemate, which, given that Chris Adams is trying to build confidence, has served the Brown Caps' interests well, even if the upshot has been some extremely dull cricket. The fixture - I refuse to call it a match - that saw us play host to Leicestershire produced just nine wickets in eleven sessions (there was no play after tea on day two). It would have been a travesty if Mark Ramprakash and Stewart Walters's stand of 404 had broken the all-time record for Surrey's third wicket; and if Ramprakash had set a new record for the highest score by a Surrey batsman against Leicestershire. I wouldn't be surprised if the sight of Chris Murtagh scratching around for an unbeaten 14 on such a featherbed was what resulted in the management deciding to release him. However, one thing which was confirmed during those four days was that Leicestershire's James Taylor has a bright future ahead of him, which was what I thought when I saw him in last year's Pro40 game against the Foxes. Greg Smith, who also impressed me in that match, only made 46. But Derbyshire's Greg Smith - there used to be two Michael Powells to confuse us, now there are two Greg Smiths - is someone who has stood out this summer, as has Derbyshire's latest South African import, Wayne Madsen. In many ways Derbyshire and Leicestershire are quite similar to Surrey. You get the impression with all three of them that a top quality overseas bowler could easily gain them promotion. In Danish Kaneria and James Franklin, Essex and Gloucestershire have better than average overseas bowlers, so don't be surprised if one of them goes up along with Kent at the end of the season. My money would be on it being Essex, especially as spinners tend to come into their own at this time of year. Taylor's name was put forward in an article in The Times entitled 'Who will be the England stars of 2013?' Sadly, neither Jade Dernbach nor Stuart Meaker got a mention. In four years' time I'd like to think that both of them will be knocking on the England door. Meaks was one of the main topics of discussion when I interviewed Ian Salisbury a couple of weeks ago for the Surrey Mirror. This issue of Oval World contains a full transcript of our conversation. I thought it would be a good idea to have a chat with Solly seeing as the good news story of 2009 looks as though it will be the exploits of Surrey's second eleven and age group sides. The reserves have almost certainly done enough to qualify for the final of the Second XI Championship, on September 16-18. Also, Surrey's Under 17s are through to the ECB County Cup semi-finals and the Brown Caps' Under 14s recently won the equivalent competition for their age group, having claimed the Under 13s title last year. As one might have expected Scott Newman and James Benning have both put in some good performances out on loan, but they haven't done anything, yet, to suggest that Chris Adams was too hasty in showing them the door. But from what one is told, the acquisition of Steven Davies, from Worcestershire, might result in the loss of a player who does still have a lot to offer. At this year's AGM, the Surrey Chairman, David Stewart said that the club was committed to maintaining expenditure on cricket at the level set in 2003. Given the retirement of Mark Butcher and all of the players we have off-loaded, or are rumoured to be off-loading, I'd like to see how the spend in 2010 will be on a par with 2003. Due to the recession, I am currently trying to come up with some money-making ideas. The day after England won the Ashes I thought I'd go online to see if anyone was selling "Av" and "It" signs on eBay, seeing as the waving of them by one of the spectators was one of the enduring images of the Oval Test. To my amazement nobody was - so, that's something I really must sort out when I've finished writing this edition of Oval World!
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