The captaincy of D.L.Maddy...

...lasted for 578 days and Mads the Skip will be remembered for:

His superb 130 at Northampton to lift the Bears to a spectacular championship win last April.

Giving Tony Frost a bowl on the first morning of a championship match. Frost promptly ripped his first ball past the outside-edge. "So nearly a stroke of genius", reflected Maddy.

Happily fulfilling his captain's obligations, after a Twenty20 win at Edgbaston, by chatting to Radio WM broadcasting legend Mike Taylor only, to his evident bemusement, to be yanked away by the snarling, glowering figure of Mark Greatbatch. Snarling and glowering...after a win?!

Each of the 977 dot balls that he faced in the championship in 2008.

His big-hearted five for 63 against Durham at Chester-le-Street in 2007 when other heads were dropping and the freefall towards Division Two was gathering pace.

His laconic, good-humoured reaction when, addressing the press after a match at Hove, he was hit squarely on the sweater by the deposit of a seagull. (The bird, it is understood, was aiming for 'Batch).

He was at the helm for a big improvement, year on year, in the Bears' championship cricket in 2008, culminating in promotion.

He was at the helm while the team remained very hit and miss in one-day cricket in 2008.

Some nifty spells of Barry Wood-type medium-pace, perhaps deployed a little more often in bowler-friendly conditions in the champo than when the flak was flying in one-day cricket.

Darren's unfailing courtesy and decency - even when driving home from hospital still getting his head round the news that he would be out for the best part of two months with a broken thumb.

Good man. Good team man. Good cricketer.

Captaincy rating: 6.387610768565194478787309 out of 10.