CRICKET is still with us and our county team put up a very sloppy show in losing to Glamorgan.

It cost them two places in the final championship table. Captain Klinger was very much missed.

I spent a presidential hour with new chief executive Will Brown last week. His knowledge and understanding of both the club’s history and hopes was outstanding.Tom Richardson will be a hard act to follow but Will can build on and add to Tom’s great efforts. He often came to work on a true racing bicycle, and members and supporters will find him a cheerful gracious presence at the County Ground. It is, however, with much sadness that I have to report he is a season ticket-holder at Bath Rugby Club.

Another strange choice is that made by the England cricket selectors. Ty Mills, of Essex, has taken six championship wickets this season and tours Australia with the England development squad. Craig Miles, of Gloucestershire, has taken 43 and has been ignored. The promising Craig, thought by top judges (the two Johns, Bracewell and Light) to be the best bowler under 20 in the country, should have been selected. There is only one answer – move Gloucestershire to within the M25!

Cricket brings two awards evenings this week, locally the CDCA at the Cirencester Club on Thursday, then the County award ceremony in the new Bristol pavilion the next evening.

The huge crowd at Westerleigh Crematorium last Friday showed how much Paul Kendrick was valued and respected. A member of the Hammond Roofers, he represented the beating heart of Gloucestershire. The questions he asked me were always the most searching and demonstrated a genuine desire to take the club he loved so much forward. Both his inquiring mind and helpful advice were of considerable benefit to us running the county. One of the joys of county cricket is the companionship and company of true supporters. Paul ,who led his life with his bat always straight, was such a man. So many of us will miss him so much.