I am rather amused by the decaying status of England's "Warm Up" match v Essex. Having chosen to approach the county side (recently bowled out for 20 by Lancashire) for a competititve First Class game, the first thing to go wrong was when the Essex "B" attack managed to get England batsmen out. Then plan "b" came into effect, with Bresnan and Swann making 199 between them. Oh No! The Essex bowler then bruised Swann's arm, so he couldn't bowl - which had been one of the reasons the match was arranged. Never mind - the seamers did the damage, ably assisted by Root, who posted career best figures. Come the England second innings, however, the two Essex strike bowlers had only gone and injured themselves, so the much-needed "competitive" batting was against third-string bowlers. So England requested permission for Essex to bring in replacement bowlers. Fine, but the match loses first class status, much to the chagrin of Bresnan (104 - best score since 2007), Swann (94 - likewise best score since 2007) and Root (4 for 20 odd, best bowling figures) have their match records wiped out. And the day ended with Cook and Trott both "Retired Out", which i have never seen outside village green cricket.
Perfect preparation for the Ashes.