timing of three no-balls delivered by Pakistan in the Lord’s Test. England won by an innings and 225 runs as the last six Pakistan wickets fell in 95 minutes on Sunday morning but the response from the crowd and players alike was muted. The story dominated Monday’s newspapers and television news and was the principal topic of conversation around the grounds on Bank Holiday. But it was not allowed to overshadow some fine individual performances, with hundreds from Martin van Jaarsfield, as Kent defeated Hampshire in a nod to the old tradition at Southampton on Sunday, and on Monday from Somerset’s Craig Kieswetter at Worcester and Scotland’s George Bailey, the Tasmania captain, at Edgbaston. In the LV= County Championship the second division clash between the leaders Sussex and second-placed Glamorgan ended in a draw after the first day had been lost to rain and perhaps the best antidote to the spot fixing allegations was to be found at the seaside resort of Colwyn Bay. Here, in that charming setting, the Unicorns, the ECB’s recreational XI run by the Minor Counties Cricket Association, came close to defeating Lancashire in the Clydesdale 40. The Unicorns provide an opportunity for recreational cricketers to demonstrate their talents to the first-class counties in the hope of winning a contract and they set Lancashire a target of 254. After a fine start, Lancashire appeared beaten at 234 for eight with two overs remaining but they scraped home off the last ball. The cloud hanging over cricket on August Bank Holiday Monday seemed a long way away from Rhos-on-Sea and Colwyn Bay and such matches indicate that as long as Bank Holidays still exist the fixture planners might as well make use of them, even if their heyday is long gone. In the meantime, whether in the Championship, Clydesdale 40 or Twenty20, the ghosts of Hirst, Rhodes, Freeman and Mead might stir in approval at Headingley, Old Trafford and Canterbury. Dying Embers 195