ENTER the Hollioake brothers, after one weekend that gave English cricket a bigger lift than a thousand hours of ECB agonising.
Adam and Ben Hollioake appear at Chelmsford today as Surrey attempt to defeat Essex, the favourites, in the quarter-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup.
Though Essex supplied a selector, Graham Gooch, none of their players were called up for the Texaco Trophy, but it is a fair bet that the Hollioakes, Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe will receive a rousing reception at Chelmsford as excitement and optimism at England's summer prospects ripple around the shires.
On Sunday Ben became the ninth member of the Surrey side to play a one-dayer for England, helping to settle that pulsating 3-0 series success over Australia in his first experience of Lord's.
Dave Gilbert, Surrey's Australian coach, admitted to feeling pride and pain at the humiliation of his countrymen, most of whom were known to him personally.
He said yesterday: ``The Surrey factor in the Texaco series gives anyone at the club enormous pride and satisfaction, but, yes, this weekend has given me mixed feelings. It hurts like hell.
``It's not very nice to see your country being given a bit of a bath. The Australian side are definitely undercooked at the moment. They'll get better, but England have given them a very strong message that they're in for a fight this time.''
Gilbert said he had been taken aback by Ben's call-up. ``I've got no qualms whatsoever how good this kid's going to be, but I saw his selection as, not a gamble perhaps, but a little bit ahead of schedule.
``David Graveney and his selectors want to put their mark on things straight away. They want to look at precocious youth, and Ben hasn't let them down. And Adam has come on a storm in the past 12 months.''
Yesterday the Hollioakes and their county team-mates spent the afternoon at Bexley Cricket Club, attending a six-a-side tournament in memory of their former colleague Graham Kersey, who was killed in a car crash last winter.
Ian Salisbury, one of those nine England internationals, is doubtful with a finger injury, but otherwise Surrey, as Essex, are at full strength.
Essex have won all their seven one-day games this summer - the only county with an unblemished record - and their last four games against Surrey in this competition have been resounding successes, the most recent being 1991.
The biggest game in terms of attendance is likely to be at Headingley where Yorkshire meet Northamptonshire, last year's beaten finalists.
Yorkshire came a cropper at Northampton last year and their batting has looked generally suspect this season, but in Darren Gough and Darren Lehmann, their Australian batsman, they have match-winners.
Kent have lost Dean Headley to injury as they prepare to take on an improving Warwickshire side at Canterbury.
Headley, also part of the Texaco Trophy weekend triumph, has a back strain and will not be partnering Martin McCague in perhaps the most formidable opening attack around.
The last time these counties met was in the quarter-final three years ago when Warwickshire won a bowl-out after a scalding off-field row over the Edgbaston covering facilities. The upshot - Warwickshire went on to win the final at Lord's.
Kent are a confident side, but are far from unbeatable, as Warwickshire, with five one-day wins in a row, will be attempting to prove.
Leicestershire have not met Somerset in this competition for 20 years. The expertise of Dermot Reeve, Somerset's coach, after his Warwickshire experiences could be a decisive factor, and in Richard Harden they have the most consistent batsman on the circuit.