MaidstoneFox

Little is not a Christian name, it's an adjective. He's happy in Jersey by all accounts. My simple criteria would also rule out Rooney Wayne.

Never employ a manager whose surname could be his first name, in this case, Martin Russell. By the same criteria I would not have Gerard Steven.

The Thomas interview: Shortly after Leicestershire's three-day victory at Middlesex was confirmed, the lyrics to Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing blared out from the away dressing room. But there is no sense that anyone actively involved – be it players or coaching staff – view their current ascent as any sort of miracle. Instead, insisted Alfonso Thomas afterwards, this is merely the second stage of a reboot that began in earnest last summer, when he set his stall out in his first season as permanent head coach to make his side difficult to beat. They lost three times last season, won once and drew the other 10 games. They were the seeds, and these are the fruits. "The next phase for us was trying to win games of cricket," Thomas told The Cricketer on Sunday evening. "We had a good chat about how we were going to go about it; I can assure you that it is a very simple process, and it speaks for itself when you see this team perform. We keep on challenging this group to open their minds up, to challenge them to see how good they can be. They are certainly rising to that challenge at the moment." Leicestershire, 40 points clear of Gloucestershire and Glamorgan – both tied for third place in Division Two – are unbeaten in six games, having won four of them. No one else in the country has that record, nor does anyone have more than their 35 bonus points. They couldn't have dreamed of a better start under Peter Handscomb, who replaced Lewis Hill as captain over the winter. There is an efficiency to his leadership: unafraid to change struggling bowlers, seeking control of the run rate, maximising the versatility of one of the circuit's more interesting teams. "Taking the results aside," he told The Cricketer, "what has been really pleasing is that we've played the brand of cricket that we wanted to play. At the start of the season and during pre-season, we talked about plans and processes and what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play. Regardless of results, if we did that, that was going to be okay and what we were going to judge ourselves on. Judging ourselves on that alone, it has been a really, really good season. The results have just been a bonus." Those results have been record-breaking and hoodoo-ending. Sunday's win marked the first time that the county has won three first-class games consecutively since 1998, and it doubled up as a first victory at Lord's since 1980. Thomas had used his pre-match team-talk to remind his players of where they were playing. After chasing down 102 to complete the job, Thomas looked up at the honours board in the away changing room to see who'd made a century at the Home of Cricket in 1980. It was Viv Richards, one of his favourite players. "That just shows how long ago it has been," added Thomas, who went into the Long Room and took a photograph as a souvenir of the iconic portrait in Richards' honour. This latest win was secured much like the second, against Gloucestershire, when Thomas' bowlers used the third morning to blow open an even contest by rolling their hosts in the third innings. Gloucestershire were all out for 152, Middlesex for 143. Each time, it left Leicestershire facing tantalising, sub-150 run-chases. "They have been very good," sad Thomas. "But to me, we've not even played our best cricket yet. That is a good sign. We've all made a contribution, which has been the pattern all the way through the season." Only Kyle Abbott has more Championship wickets than Ian Holland, the veteran Australian-American allrounder, who has found a home at Grace Road via Hampshire, while Ben Green's 21 wickets are already a career-best for a first-class season, and Logan van Beek's 19 justify his overseas signing. Handscomb's 87 at Lord's – a ground where he found batting desperately difficult during two years with Middlesex – was match-defining. "They are both keeping it really simple, not trying to try too much," said the Australian, reflecting in particular on the contributions of Green and Holland. "Just keep repeating, being better for longer, being second to change – making sure that the batter changes their plans before we change ours." The wildcards in the Leicestershire ranks – Rehan Ahmed and Josh Hull – have been used more sparingly but have contributed when called upon. The pair have only taken 13 wickets between them, but Leicestershire's use of allrounders has allowed Hull to be used in short bursts as a luxury option, while Rehan has bowled just 47.1 overs in six matches. He was thrown the ball to clean up the Middlesex tail on Sunday and promptly completed the job, before wandering out to bat at No.3. "He is still working away to make sure that his bowling is ready to go when we need it," explained Handscomb, who also praised Hull's continuing development. "He looks strong, his rhythm looks really good, his accuracy is getting better and better with each spell. Really, really happy with what Josh is doing. We are so lucky to have someone like him to come in and offer us something different: left-arm, pace, height – all lovely attributes for a fast bowler." Those might come to the fore next month, with the two Championship rounds breaking up the T20 Blast group stage both Kookaburra matches. It is not yet certain whether Somerset will release Green for those games, given he is a key part of the T20 setup at Taunton, and there is an acceptance too that the different ball might just require an alternative skillset. By then, Shan Masood will also be part of the equation. There had been a possibility of the Pakistan Test captain arriving in time for next week's clash with Lancashire, only for the PSL's situation to take that out of Leicestershire's hands. They expect, though, to have him in time for the Blast, at which point Handscomb will take a break. "And then," added Thomas, "we will have a really good headache going into the Championship. "I have a guy with almost 600 first-class wickets chomping at the bit, I have a left-arm spinner, Liam Trevaskis, looking at me who wants a go. I have Ben Mike, another world-class allrounder, who could come in. I have a really good squad, and we will pick whatever we believe for that particular game is going to win the game for us. "We have a team at the moment where they have each other's backs, and that is the sign of a really good team, where there is always going to be somebody who is going to pick up the pieces for somebody who might not be having a good day. "We could have won all six games, but we are just taking them game by game." Leicester City's title win was a miracle, as Jamie Vardy signs off. This, though, has just been incremental, well-planned improvement. There is plenty still to unfold, but this has been some start.

Good news for Vestergaard, Winks, vegan burger sellers and Buddhist monks

Very upbeat, but he does describe Ben Mike as a: 'world-class all-rounder', which is perhaps taking it a bit far.

Managing his workload after 10 months without a game. Not injured, but probably quite sore and stiff.

We hammered them, though they were missing Gatting, Emburey and Edmonds, and were playing 47 year old Fred Titmus! Fans of Half Man Half Biscuit will like that reference.

They may well look to extend Green's loan after the white ball tournaments, if Van Beek will be stepping aside for Masood.

4 wins already. 5 or 6 wins usually enough to get promotion.

There was a similar case here in Kent at the Oasis Academy in Sheppey (not the easiest place to teach!), where teachers went on strike because of violence. It's been taken over by another group now. I did my first teaching practice at New Parks nearly 30 years ago, which was a slightly scary and curious experience. But there were similar themes there to the ones in the news story. I am taking early retirement next year, even though I work in quite a nice school in Kent. Experience and age helps, but you also need energy, which I don't have any more!

Just as I say that, Budinger bowled.

Looks a lovely day at Lords, wish I was there. We need to build a big total here and get all the batting bonus points.

Best wishes to Taiwo. But the whole episode is disgraceful. Player safety should come first, he should never have been allowed back on the pitch regardless of whether they had made a sub or not.

Keaton Jennings has resigned as Lancashire captain. All very well but if you look at their line-up it's not actually very good. They'd be in even bigger trouble if it weren't for Marcus Harris' 750 runs.

Yep, it used to be manual jobs with industrial revolutions, but this will be a purge of white collar jobs. We've been exploring the range of tasks AI can do at work, but already it's not a big jump to imagine an AI bot delivering lessons and a non-qualified teacher just assisting across a couple of classrooms and checking behaviour, safeguarding etc. Similarly, I can see quite a near future where most marking and examining is done by AI. I'm going to push my kids towards hairdressing as a career I think!

Yep, should make em double for the privilege.

Dyche will also be a lot more expensive than other candidates, demand a long contract and be expensive to get rid of.

He is yesterday's man. His achievements have been quite a few years ago now in football terms and he's not really coming down from a high bar. Neither is he a renaissance man re-inventing himself. There's quite a limited ceiling on what he'll provide.

That's quite sad. Putting prices up only works for desirable products or something in short supply and high demand. We short be cutting prices to attract more. Surrey have the huge advantage of only being 30 mins travel from a huge population - I used to pop down quite a bit when I lived in Peckham, without even being a Surrey supporter.

Innings defeat for Kent who are still stricken with injuries. Lancashire in big trouble against Northants and could be bottom of the table if they lose.

Probably looking for sme match fitness as we don't have a game. Doesn't Wright live in South Warwickshire, so not too far from Dunstable.

probably quite happy to see how things go in the last few games before making a decision. There will be more managers available in the summer as well.

From a couple of people I know who have had dealings with him, the off-field side was disastrous at times and he was starting to make ludicrous comments like the suggestion we have a Championship game in Dublin (because we have so many fans over there). However, can't argue with the on-field side and what he has signed off in terms of coaching structure and academy development. Needs someone now with the vision, connections and project experience to utilise the Hundred money effectively for the long term.

Here in Kent, the 50 or so Conservative councillors have neatly swapped over to Reform, who now have a huge majority. But it is also based on a low turnout, which wouldn't be replicated at a GE. Last time UKIP had control of Thanet council, they bankrupted it I think, so we'll see what they do this time with very little wriggle room over what they can do. It should be remembered of course that we have been here before and it's far easier to win local elections, but smaller parties struggle to translate that to a GE because they don't have the voter data, or election machinery to mount an effective campaign across the whole country, all at once, something they can manage in one off by-elections. A GE campaign is also more drawn out and comes under more media scrutiny, particularly on policies but also some of the awful candidates that Reform will put up and their dubious backgrounds. Farage will know this, so although he's ruling out any election pact with the Tories now, he could soften his language in 3/4 years time as it may still be the only way he can gain real power under our electoral system.

Everyone in that 11 yesterday has contributed this season. I did wonder about Van Beek but he has chipped in with runs and wickets, the point being that you don't need a dominant overseas player if the whole team is contributing. The signings of Cox and Holland have been key as they bring a calmness and experience to the side which helps the younger players enormously. I also think the coaching of the bowlers has been excellent and whether that is Thomas, or a combination of him and experienced pros like Wright and Holland shaping the right culture.