Traditonally this is an occasion to celebrate the English domestic game.
Some of the ingredients were there. A packed house of partisan supporters basked
in hazy sunshine and cheered their team on. The ball was carted to all corners;
there were frantic dives and run-outs, honest endeavour all round.
Yet this soon became a celebration of African rather than English cricket.
Hampshire, inserted because the haze was slow to lift, amassed an impressive
290, although it might have been more. Sean Ervine (born in Harare) played the
most influential innings - 104 from 93 balls. He was ably supported by Nic
Pothas (born Johannesburg), who hit 68 from 99 balls.
For Warwickshire
Neil Carter (born Cape Town) snatched five expensive wickets. Ian Trott (also
born Cape Town) grabbed three with his gentle medium pacers while Makhaya Ntini
(born Eastern Cape) was the most economical bowler. Of these only Ntini is a
bona fide overseas player.
So the old Lord's showpiece was not just a celebration. It also highlighted
one of the key dilemmas of English domestic cricket, the continuing influx of
talented cricketers, usually from southern Africa, who are not qualified to play
for England. Adopting such a policy is so tempting for clubs seeking immediate
success and none are currently more ambitious than Hampshire. These players
don't cost the earth and the effort and risk of nurturing hopeful youngsters
through the academies can be by-passed.
Usually these men are ready-made cricketers. In the case of Ervine, who also
hit a century in Hampshire's semi-final against Yorkshire, a very gifted player
has been acquired. Ervine will earn far more from his escapades at Southampton
and in Perth, Western Australia, than he ever could turning out for Zimbabwe,
which he has done in five Tests. He'll probably enjoy himself more as well.
There is a scheme in place to stall the influx of such players via
performance related fee payments to the counties. Basically, the counties are
rewarded for employing cricketers - especially young ones - who are qualified to
play for England. But currently the scale of these rewards is insufficient to
deter counties from seeking instant success from outside.
Maybe Hampshire should be lauded for using their considerable resources so
skilfully in assembling one of the most successful sides in their history. They
have appeared in only one other Lord's final, 13 years ago, and this year they
remain in the hunt for the Championship. But in the long term their strategy is
not doing the English game many favours.
Hampshire had just enjoyed a resounding victory over Warwickshire in the
Championship at the Rose Bowl and here they continued to dominate a flimsy
bowling side, who were at least bolstered by the rare presence of Ashley Giles
and Ian Bell.
John Crawley might have been lbw to Ntini's first ball, but curiously none of
the Warwickshire side, including the bowler, seemed that interested.
The ball darted around for a while, but the bowling was often wayward.
Crawley succumbed to a Carter bouncer, but soon Ervine, an uncomplicated, beefy
left-hander, was penetrating the field at will, while Pothas took his time.
Ervine might have been run out when he had scored 29, but the throw of
England's fielding coach, Trevor Penney, was wide of the keeper and, in any
case, directed to the wrong end. Well, we can all learn from that bit of
footage.
The England players were bit-part contributors in the morning. Bell bowled
three inconsequential overs; Giles bowled 10 without causing much bother, though
he will have enjoyed the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen. Still settling in,
Pietersen pulled Trott's first ball hard, but in the air, to the leg-side
boundary, where Giles dived to his right to hold a fine catch.
At one point Hampshire must have spied a total in excess of 300, but they
faltered in the last 10 overs when they lost their last seven wickets for 72
runs and had to settle for a final total of 290. The penultimate ball of the
innings, bowled by Carter, was struck unceremoniously into the stand at long on
by Chris Tremlett - at least the England hopeful is in good touch with the bat.
The complement was soon repaid by Carter, who tormented Tremlett in his early
overs. Carter's six off Tremlett ended up in the top tier of the Tavern Stand
and after two overs the gangling opening bowler had yielded 20 runs.
Carter is a tricky opponent; he has a good eye, licence to swing and the
ability to hit the ball to strange areas. But Tremlett was hardly convincing;
there were three leg-side wides in his first over and he was straining to
survive rather than imposing himself on the batsmen.
Tremlett's opening spell increased the yearning for Simon Jones to be fit for
the final Test. At least it improved after Carter's departure. The left-hander
rashly set off for a single to mid-on. There was a direct hit on the stumps at
the bowler's end before Carter demolished all three as he completed his vain
attempt to make his ground. The thrower, inevitably, was the irrepressible
Ervine.
Now, at last, some sturdy English batsmanship surfaced from players at the
opposite end of their careers. Nick Knight, who gives up the Warwickshire
captaincy at the end of this season, was soon composed and in command.
So too was Bell, who began with a simple, breathtaking stroke - a punched
back-foot drive off Andy Bichel. This pair effortlessly took the score into
three figures after 18 overs. The target was within range.
At least 42 of the 54 capital cities in Africa now offer their
residents live public Internet access services and of these eight countries have
local dial-up access throughout their more rural regions. The rapid adaptation
of the Internet as a business tool over the past three years is the main reason
for the surge in connections but over-regulation and poor telecommunication
infrastructure continue to pose serious obstacles to true cyber-connectivity.
None of the 42 Internet connected countries provided access at anywhere near the
world norm of one in 45 people with direct Internet access. 
