The one specialist cricketing role that could be said to have regressed over the past decade is that of the wicketkeeper. The sad death of Derek Underwood was poignant in that he was coupled inextricably with the greatest of them all, Alan Knott. Their county, Kent, was once a kind of nursery for glovemen. Now, as emphasised by the emerging talent of George Bell and Matthew Hurst, these skills are increasingly being honed in the north of England, in Lancashire.
Last season Lancashire had no fewer than six wicketkeepers, or batsmen who can keep wicket, on their books: Bell, Jos Buttler, Hurst, George Lavelle, Phil Salt and Dane Vilas, who has now retired from county cricket. As Keaton Jennings, their captain, pointed out, they could
