NOT only were we surprised to see Alastair Cook clear the boundary at Kent, but the man upstairs was sufficiently shocked to the extent that it was thundering with lightning within a matter of minutes.

Whether it was his way of saying bravo, we’ll never know, but what it did mean was that our first match in the Twenty20 Cup ended tamely when we were in a cracking position to win.

It was the first time Alastair and I have scored runs as an opening partnership and the left-hand right-hand combination worked well.

They had to keep adjusting their lines and we got off to a real flier. We thought 187 was going to be enough as I was backing our bowlers to keep Kent at bay.

However, bad light and then a storm came rolling in and flattened our hopes of getting off to the best start possible in the competition.

As for my mate Cookie, he has always been a bit unlucky in the past when it comes to one-day cricket.

He’s been on a number of England one-day tours and ended up not playing and has certainly not played much white ball cricket.

He’s one of the best batsmen in the country, though, and is able to adjust to whatever form of cricket he is playing.

As for the six he hit, I don’t think any of us have seen that before. I have waited a few years for such an exhibition of raw hitting from him and it could well be his first six for Essex.

On the subject of big hitting, we decided not to go with Napes up the order.

He was initially down to go in at three, but we got off to a great start and with the spinners coming on in the middle of the innings, we decided to put James Foster and Grant Flower in, leaving Napes to come in and whack it at the end — a plan which didn’t quite come off as he was out very quickly.

I expect him to bat further up in future games and we’ll take each situation as it comes.

FRANCOIS INNINGS KNOCKED US FOR SIX

WE won’t be reclaiming the Friends Provident Trophy this season after an extraordinary knock by Lancashire’s centurion Francois Du Plessis.

We dominated the quarter-final for the first 30 overs at Old Trafford, and then Du Plessis came in.

You have to give credit to him. We had no answer to his blitz.

He was hitting the ball in areas which are hard to defend, like over mid-wicket and extra cover. He took on our fielders on the boundary and was clearing them, which you can’t do much about.

It was one of the best knocks I have seen and it gave Lancashire a total which was just too many for us to chase, especially against their bowling attack.

As for Du Plessis, I saw him score a ton in a game live on Sky earlier in the season so we are not the only team to come a cropper against him.

STORM TOOK ME BACK TO DARWIN

THE first storm of the summer got me thinking of some of the other electrifying moments I’ve experienced.

I’ve seen some quite unbelievable storms in Australia. When I was in Darwin during the winter, it was the start of the wet season so the electric storms frequently come in and the lightning is very close.

We would be out in the ocean fishing on a metal boat with metal rods in our hands, which is not the best place to be.

There was one guy who said he felt very something go through his rod when lightning struck nearby.

There were a few times when we were a bit worried about what might happen.

I TIP NAPES TO HIT OUR FIRST TON

THE wait for an Essex player to reach three figures goes on, so who will be the first?

We’ve had a couple of 99s (scores not ice creams) and a 98.

With the Twenty20 underway and no championship game for a while, it lessons the chance of us breaking our duck.

If I had to stick my neck on the line, I’d go for Napes. If anyone is going to bash a ton in the Twenty20, I think it will be him.