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September 2005 - Surrey

No hands up

Martin Bicknell is too modest to put it like this but, aside from winning the Championship, his main hope for Surrey for the remainder of the summer is to see someone emerge with the potential to bowl as well as ... well, Martin Bicknell.

"We need one of our young quicks to make a mark," urges the man whose 6 for 56 against Notts was the latest disproof of his 36 years. "Jade Derbach [the 19-year-old South African pitched into the Twenty20 semis] is one to watch. Neil Saker hasn't really had a chance and, while Tim Murtagh is bowling well in one-dayers, he hasn't played much Championship cricket. I'd like to see someone put their hand up. I can't play for ever."

Indeed not. Next season, the seemingly indestructible Bicknell vows, will be his last. Then again he thought this would be. Charterhouse public school have appointed him their Head of Cricket. "We spend our careers wondering what to do next," he says. "This is my ultimate job." "I was going to retire in September but things have been going well so, contract permitting, I'll play another year but I don't want to bowl myself into the ground. I hope to stay involved with Surrey: I hear schools still get a reasonable amount of time off in the summer." Kennington without Bickers? Inconceivable.

Moment of the month Mark Ramprakash's straight sixes in the Twenty20 semi-final: oh, to have seen more of those these past 19 summers

© The Wisden Cricketer