so we are still on the hussain/strauss dilemma at the moment, but lets not forget that there are lots of young (and not so young) english batsmen who are scoring runs at will in the english springtime. perhaps the most prominent of these is ian bell who failed with the bat this time round, but has shown himself as a part time bowler capable of picking up wickets. of course there is the venerable graeme hick who is still slaughtering county attacks at the age of 38. Key is forcing himself back into the reckoning, left on 78* overnight as all other kent batsmen make starts but fail to capitalise on them. he resumes tomorrow in a good position to record his 5th first class century before the end of may - not a bad record. Scott Newman has also started the season in excellent form, as have young spin bowling batsmen such as dalrymple and middlebrook. it's looking good for the future - does anyone have any personal preferences among these lot?

Tom