I am usually a big critic of the county cricket fixture list but for once its idiosyncrasy has helped us.

We have a week of no Championship cricket at a time when our bodies can do with the rest.

Our convincing win over Warwickshire on Sunday was all the sweeter for the fact that the Bears began another Championship game two days later.

We, on the other hand, have had several days to regenerate body and mind and keep fresh for the challenges ahead.

We have Mushtaq Ahmed to thank, mainly, for our first victory over Warwickshire in 12 years.

The little magic muslim is on fire and long may the flames continue. He has kept us going, not only with his on-field antics, but also his dressing room impressions. He is, I suspect, a frustrated Rory Bremner (or Mushtaq McGowan perhaps?)

Along with a mid-season fitness test to help us gauge whether we have kept up with pre-season levels, we have been spending the time off having nets to work on specific techniques and the new hydrotherapy reconditioning unit (or Jacuzzi if you prefer) has been put to good use.

The coaching staff have been using the mid-season breather to assess the players' performance and we have all been given forms to fill out to that end.

These appraisals have been brought in partly as a response to the unfortunate goings on at Leicestershire. At the end of last year, two apparently worthy cricketers, Neil Burns and Carl Crowe, who had both seen themselves as loyal servants to Leicestershire's cause, were released without convincing explanations.

In Burns' case, in particular, it did seem an odd decision. He had been the first division's leading wicketkeeper in 2002 with 63 dismissals. He also scored a healthy 720 runs with one hundred and five fifties. He also appeared, to the opposition at least, to be a senior figure in their team both on and off the field.

Yet somewhere along the way he must have been doing something his employers didn't like. Needless to say, Messrs Burns and Crowe didn't agree and the case is going through the courts.

The appraisal forms we have just completed are partly designed to stop situations like this from arising again. It is a chance for the player to tell the coaches how he thinks he is doing in all the important areas of cricket, both on and off the field.

This is just as much about how one is contributing to team spirit, as about how many runs and wickets are being scored. It is a chance for the coaches in return to inform the player exactly where he is standing in the club's view.

The player is, therefore, left in no doubt about what he has to go away and work on, in order to be in the strongest possible position to renew his contract at the end of the year.

Sounds scary stuff but it is necessary in these days of professionalism. As more money and interest pours into the game, the stakes are raised and the whole thing gets more serious.

This is often lamented by those who claim there are few characters left in the game anymore. They may be correct, but surely standards have been raised and the skills they are watching are at a higher level.

Just occasionally there is a player who is talented enough to be able to combine the highest skill levels with a bit of tomfoolery. I'm talking about Mushtaq McGowan of course.

Thursday July 3