Similar laws should apply to the driving of shopping trolleys as do to the driving of cars. Trolley police should be stationed in every supermarket to clamp down on careless drivers, reckless drivers, speeding drivers, drivers under the influence of drinks or drugs, aisle blockers, lane-hoggers, unreasonably slow movers and drivers who fail to indicate properly. These people should be punished with penalty points which, under a totting-up procedure, eventually amount to a ban.

Warwickshire v Pakistan, a three-day tour match at Edgbaston. July, 1974. Warwickshire win the toss and bat.

Opening the bowling for the tourists is 21-year-old tyro Imran Khan. Fast and furious. Still very much a junior in his national side but clearly a colossal and precocious talent.

Jameson and Abberley open the batting for Warwickshire. Jameson, rarely defensive, takes to Imran and biffs him for 60 from his first four overs.

One of those overs begins with a dot ball. The next three deliveries are struck for four and the next lifted for six. The sixth ball brings another boundary - and is a no ball. Jameson also cracks the seventh ball to the fence. 26 off the over.

Now that's an over I would like to have seen.

Jameson finished with 88 in 64 minutes but his dismissal was not the end of the tourists' rough treatment. Eddie Hemmings lifted Intikhab Alam for three successive sixes on the way to 74.

In Pakistan's next tour match, at Trent Bridge, Imran Khan dismissed Nottinghamshire's Nirmal Nanan for two.

Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott tied for the prestige accolade of top three-scorer in the championship for Warwickshire last season.

Bell and Trott each scored 24 threes in four-day cricket, just ahead of Jim Troughton who recorded 20.

The full list.
24: Bell, Trott
20: Troughton
15: Woakes
14: Ambrose
13: Westwood
12: Botha
8: Clarke
6: Frost
4: Tahir
2: Carter, Maddy, Patel
1: Javid, Rankin, Sreesanth.

Top of Rikki Clarke's winter agenda must surely be how he can score more threes in 2010.

He didn't do too badly in the championship six-hitting stakes though.

The list.
9: Carter
8: Clarke
5: Troughton
3: Woakes
2: Patel, Sreesanth
1: Ambrose, Botha, Trott.

Ian Bell faced 1,930 deliveries in the championship and failed to hit any of them for six.

MOST bowlers claim that cricket has always been a batsmen's game. Especially since pitches were covered and more than ever in recent years when many county matches are played on bland, slow or flat surfaces.
The claim is supported by facts. Warwickshire have played first-class cricket since 1894 but of the 11 positions in their batting order, the record scores in nine have been set in the last 15 years, six in the last decade. Here's the list.

1. Nick Knight: 303 not out v Middlesex at Lord's, 2004.
On a sunny morning in London, Nick Knight strode out to open with Mark Wagh determined to give his team's innings a sturdy backbone. He did that pretty effectively by becoming only the fifth player to score a triple-century at Lord's after Percy Holmes, Jack Hobbs, Graham Gooch and Wagh (who made 315, batting at number three, in 2001).
The track was far from a shirt-front and a Middlesex attack led by Nantie Hayward and Lance Klusener bowled well. So batsmen had to work hard - and Knight was nothing if not workmanlike. He reached 50 from 57 balls but then lost momentum and simply ground his way to, 100, 200 and finally, after ten hours and 44 minutes, 303.
It was not fluent and far from attractive but the captain's career-best underpinned a victory (one of only five all season) ultimately vital to Warwickshire's championship triumph.

2. Roger Twose: 277 not out v Glamorgan at Edgbaston, 1994.
It was supposed to be all about Brian Lara and, on his championship debut just 11 days after thrashing 375 off England in Antigua, the West Indian duly scored a century in Warwickshire's innings win. But while Lara sparkled, Twose patiently, efficiently unfurled a remarkable piece of batting.
In 1993, Twose scored 224 championship runs at an average of 12.44. Now, in his first knock of '94, he helped himself to 277 and was set fair for a triple century when Dermot Reeve declared on 657 for seven.
The junior partner in a second-wicket partnership of 215 with Lara (who made 147), Twose was unbeaten on 104 on the second evening. Next day he navigated the rest of the innings so skifully that another 392 were added, though nobody else reached 50. He batted ten hours six minutes and hit 34 fours and a six.

3. Brian Lara: 501 not out v Durham at Edgbaston, 1994.
Now this was all about Lara. Thirty-seven days after Twose's historic effort, Lara delivered the most famous innings in Warwickshire's history.
After Durham amassed 556, the Bears lost Dominic Ostler for eight. That brought in Lara.
At 100 he became the first batsman to score seven centuries in eight first-class matches. He had only just started.
On the final day, the match doomed to a draw, Lara scored 174 in the morning to take lunch on 285. By tea he was on 418, the highest score by anyone at Edgbaston and by any Warwickshire player, West Indian or left-hander.
At 425 his innings became the highest ever in English first-class cricket and finally, at 501, the highest in all cricket, beating Hanif Mohammed's 499.
Lara batted seven hours 54 minutes, faced 427 balls and hit 62 fours and ten sixes. He was dropped by wicketkeeper Chris Scott on 18!

4. Billy Quaife: 255 not out v Surrey at The Oval, 1905.
Score one for the old guard. It is entirely appropriate that Billy Quaife remains on the list. He was the linchpin of Warwickshire's batting for 35 years, scoring 33,862 runs for the county, and never more dogged than at The Oval in May 1905.
The Bears began the final morning on 151 for two, needing another 93 to avoid an innings defeat. Quaife was on 33. Along with fellow stonewaller Septimus Kinneir he knuckled down and, though Kinneir fell for 99, there was no uprooting the five-feet-two-inches of implacable resistance that was Warwickshire's own "WG".
Quaife batted throughout the final day, six hours, 20 minutes in all, and hit 21 fours and three fives to steer his side to safety at 585 for seven. The final throes were not too testing, mind, as Surrey captain Lord Dalmeny gave everyone a bowl. Even wicketkeeper Fred Stedman sent down four overs.

5. Frank Foster: 305 not out v Worcestershire at Dudley, 1914.
If Quaife was one great figure of Warwickshire's early years, Foster was the other. An inspiring captain, he led the Bears to their first championship in 1911 and was also a brilliant fast-bowler and flamboyant batsman. At Dudley, in May 1914, Worcestershire discovered how flamboyant.
Foster's thunderous 305 came out of 448 scored while he was at the crease. Driving gloriously and hitting mercilessly to leg, he struck 45 fours but, strangely, no sixes in an innings as spectacular in its day as Lara's 80 years later.
It was all the more satisfying for the maverick Foster because of his dislike for his namesakes who were at the heart of Worcestershire cricket. And after Foster declared at 645 for seven, the home side's suffering continued. Fast bowler Frank Field sent down 8.4-7-2-6 and Worcestershire were skittled for 136, beaten by an innings and 321 runs.

6. Tim Ambrose: 251 not out v Worcestershire at Worcester, 2007.
Ninety-three years on, Worcestershire suffered again, this time at New Road.
There was little to suggest the carnage ahead when Warwickshire, after winning the toss, slumped to three for two as Kabir Ali removed Darren Maddy and Ian Westwood. The pitch was slow and not perfect for stroke-playing but, Ali apart, the bowling was mediocre and the attack was first softened up then pummelled by Jim Troughton and Tim Ambrose. After Troughton departed for 162, Ambrose made merry against wilting opposition. He batted for six hours 29 minutes, faced 325 balls and hit 34 fours though, like Foster all those years before, no sixes.
Towards the end, Ambrose was cutting the bowling to shreds. His sixth-wicket partnership of 226 with Heath Streak was a Warwickshire record, Streak contributing only 66 as the wicketkeeper plundered his way to, at the time, the 12th highest score for the Bears.

7. Dougie Brown: 203 v Sussex at Hove, 2000.
On May 12, 2000, seagulls circling menacingly above the ground in search of vulnerable targets, on the second day of a championship match, Sussex were getting on top.
On a pitch slow but decent for batting, they had totalled only 224 but now had Warwickshire in trouble. When skipper Neil Smith fell for a duck, the Bears were 158 for five. Out of the pavilion strode Dougie Brown, arms swinging in familiar windmill fashion.
At close of play, Warwickshire were 439 for six, Brown 157 not out. First with David Hemp then Ashley Giles, the all-rounder vigilantly steered his side out of trouble, shored up the innings and then, as the flow of the game switched, counter-attacked.
Next day Brown (203) and Giles (128) stretched their partnership to 289, a Warwickshire seventh-wicket record. Brown's maiden double-century spanned six hours 47 minutes and contained 30 fours.

8. Tony Frost: 135 not out v Sussex at Horsham, 2004.
Horsham has rarely been a venue to excite bowlers. In 2004 it was at its most batsman-friendly. The pitch looked a corker for batting. In fact it was a road.
To their delight, Warwickshire won the toss but somehow, due to carelessness in the top order, they found themselves 166 for five. Then Ian Bell was joined at the crease by Brad Hogg and they added 145, Then Hogg was out for 68 and Tony Frost came in.
If there was a vestige of life with the new ball it had gone now and the pitch just flattened out more and more. Bell (262) and Frost added 289 for the seventh wicket and, with Mushtaq Ahmed tamed, were still motoring when Nick Knight declared. Frost batted exactly five hours, faced 249 balls and hit 17 fours but Sussex replied with 562 and the match died a slow, agonising death.

9. Neil Smith: 147 v Somerset at Taunton, 1998.
Of the eleven scores on the record-board this is the only one to arrive in defeat. Neil Smith's century was defiant and highly entertaining but altered only the scale of embarrassment as Warwckshire were outplayed.
After Somerset totalled 364, the Bears, struggling under Brian Lara's troubled captaincy, replied with a meagre 129 (Nick Knight batting through the innings for 67). Then they were heading for total humiliation at 84 for seven second time round.
Against an attack including Andrew Caddick and Mushtaq Ahmed, Smith, with nothing to lose, went for broke. He shared partnerships of 109 with Trevor Penney and and 90 with Ashley Giles and rode his luck for 133 balls before holing out to 'Mushy'. Somerset, assisted by one leg-bye, knocked off the required 70 for just two wickets.

10. Jeetan Patel: 120 v Yorkshire at Edgbaston, 2009.
Warwickshire didn't hire New Zealand spin-bowler Jeetan Patel for his batting skills but they were grateful for them on his championship debut.
Patel had a thankless introduction with the ball, finishing with 36-1-150-1 as Yorkshire piled up 600 for eight declared. But he shone with the bat - much to the Bears' relief after they hit deep trouble on a flat Edgbaston track.
When Patel went in, Warwickshire were 241 for eight, 210 short of avoiding the follow on. But Jonathan Trott was still there and Patel got stuck in alongside him to add 233 for the ninth wicket.
The Kiwi's second scoring stroke was a six and he batted with freedom and confidence to end the third day on 89. Next morning he quickly collected 11 runs to reach his maiden century and batted three hours six minutes in all, facing 155 balls (16 fours, two sixes).

11. Alan Richardson: 91 v Hampshire at Edgbaston 2002.
Few people present at Edgbaston on May 16, 2002, will forget the cricket that saw that day. It was one of those magical passages of play, totally out of left field and which nobody in the world would have predicted, that this silly, wonderful old sport throws up now and then.
Warwickshire resumed on the second morning on 272 for nine. Nick Knight was on 151, head and shoulders above the rest, none of whom passed 22. At the other end: number 11 Alan Richardson, one not out. Maybe the tail-ender could hang around while Knight lifted the total to 200 for another bonus point?
Richadson didn't see it that way. Out of his locker came shots never been before (and not since). He passed his previous career best 17 then galloped to 91 in a stand of 214, batting for four hours 16 minutes and facing 199 balls (ten fours, one six) before being stumped. Marvellous stuff.

The most balls delivered in a single innings for Warwickshire is a staggering 444 by left-arm spinner George Paine against Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston in 1929.

In a championship match evidently played on the type of pitch deployed at Edgbaston in 2009, Warwickshire scored 511 for 3 from 154 overs (no-one scored less than 60) then Nottinghamshire replied with 521 for seven from 234 overs. Paine delivered 74-24-125-2.

The great George Gunn scored 183 for Nottinghamshire while George Vernon Gunn struck 100 not out, his maiden century, from number eight - a rare occurrence of father and son lodging tons in the same first-class innings.

Paine, a tall, gentle man and talented slow-left-armer, would have played far more than the four Tests he did if his career had not coincided with that of Hedley Verity. He took 1,021 first-class wickets, did the hat-trick twice, was a skilled woodworker and later coach and groundsman at Solihull School for 40 years.

After Paine died in 1978, his obituary in Wisden contained the greatest and rarest tribute that can be paid to any man: "He was a man of whom one never heard anybody say an unkind word."

Stephen Moore, late of Worcestershire, will not be joining Warwickshire having agreed to move to Lancashire instead.

It is a bit baffling why so many of the Bears' targets decline a move to Edgbaston.

On Monday night I attended Myton School for the consultation meeting into the proposed closure of seven fire stations (including Warwick and Kenilworth) by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue service.
There was loads of opposition to the plans and much well-expressed passion from the townsfolk on the floor. Up on the stage, meanwhile, came a display of quite breathtaking complacency from assistant county fire officer Glen Ranger.
I don't know enough about fire and rescue service operations to comment on much of what was said at the meeting but I do know the layouts of the roads between Leamington and Warwick and Leamington and Kenilworth. And for Ranger to shrug aside concerns about fire-engines getting snarled up in congestion if they all had to start from Leamington with a glib it-won't-be-a-problem shrug was just crass.
This man appears to think that fire engines have wings. It doesn't matter how accomplished the firefighters are or how powerful the engines, if they are stuck in stationary, single-lane traffic by the Portobello Bridge or on the A452 past Chesford into Kenilworth, they are going nowhere.
It may be that, under the proposed new system, many incidents would be attended as quickly or even more quickly, but it is 100 per cent certain that, at times, there will be incidents at rush hours where this would not be the case. And lives will be lost.
At the meeting feelings on the floor ran high. The phrase "gambling with people's lives" was used. Spot on. That's exactly what it amounts to. And what's at stake? People's property. And people's lives.
I hope that when these proposals are thrown out, as they MUST be, Glen Ranger will have the dignity to resign. It was shocking - and pretty worrying - to hear a person of his seniority in the service blathering away and fobbing off questions and defending the indefensible, all the while referring to a consultation document full of gobbledygook, loaded questions and massaged statistics.

PLEASE help us defeat this appalling scheme. PLEASE register your protest:
On line at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fireconsultation
By email to fireandrescue@warwickshire.gov.uk
By writing to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, Improvement Plan Consultation, Service Headquarters, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa, CV32 5LH.

Many thanks.

When Northamptonshire played Somerset at Northampton in the championship in 1914, the Denton twins (William and John) opened the batting for Northamptonshire and the Rippon twins (Albert and Arthur) opened for Somerset - an occurrence unique in first-class cricket.

William and John, who were identical, had the better of it as Northamptonshire won by an innings and 127 runs inside two days. They scored 74 and 12 respectively in a total of 410. Albert and Arthur then mustered just a single between them in Somerset's first-innings total of 123 and only 11 and 32 respectively out of 160 second time round.

Arthur Rippon was a stylish batsman who flourished after the war and struck six centuries, most memorably a brilliant 112 against Hampshire at Portsmouth in 1928. Albert was a more circumspect player who carried his bat for 105 against Sussex at Bath in 1914 but, troubled by wounds sustained in the First World War, played only one first-class innings in 1920, when he was 27, and no more thereafter.

That Kevin Pietersen. He cracks me up.

Monty Python. Spike Milligan. Barry Cryer. Ricky Gervais. Michael Macinytre. No-one cooks up a gag like Pietersen does. Listen to this latest one.

"I think we play too much county cricket. Definitely."

What's this "we"? The guy has had about as much input into Hampshire CCC in the last three years as Charlie Dimmock has.

The best thing is how he tells 'em with a straight face. The guy is a Legend.

Of Comedy.

Warwickshire 138 for 5 (35 overs). Trott 74, Clarke 1.

Westwood played intelligently for 22 in a partnership of 47 in 12 overs then holed out to long on off Mullaney.

Very dark. 29 needed off five overs.

Julius Caesar once played cricket at the Lindum ground in Lincoln. He was a Surrey player who figured in an All-England XI which also included George Parr, Richard Daft, Tom Hayward and John "Foghorn" Jackson which played '22 of Lincoln & District' at the Lindum in June 1860.

In a three-day two-innings match the number of runs scored totalled 177 for the loss of 62 wickets.