When Chris Adams first arrived at the club, he stated his intention that Sussex County Cricket Club was to become the Manchester United of English cricket.

Five years on and, whilst we are certainly improving as a team at cricket, there is still a lot left to be desired if we are ever to really aspire to being like the football champs.

I imagine, for example, that Manchester United would never have a day like we had on Tuesday. Our brief was to arrive at the ground for an 11am leave for our ten-day away trip that was to take in the various sites of Colchester, Nottingham, Durham and Edinburgh.

For a trip covering so many miles and days our usual mode of transport - club cars - had not been deemed suitable. Instead, a mini-bus had been organised.

I managed to run out of petrol on my way to the ground and so turned up a bit flustered and late, an event that turned out to be incidental as the mini-bus was not at the ground when I arrived.

It was 11.30 before anxious looks were exchanged by the coaches at the lack of transport. Phone calls to the bus company could not establish the whereabouts of the missing vehicle - the driver had turned his mobile off.

It was suggested that we go and find some brunch to while away the time, so off we trudged to a local cafe. Can you imagine 11 footballers wandering off to a local cafe round the corner from Old Trafford whilst waiting for their team bus that couldn't find the ground?

When we returned, the bus still hadn't turned up and our 2pm nets booked at the ground at Colchester were looking decidedly out of the question.

Still, it gave us the chance to do two things - read all the papers' extensive and glorious coverage of James Kirtley's exploits and watch a bit of the second eleven game that was in progress at Hove.

Paul Hutchison had lost the toss and our second team were labouring in the sun against a strong Surrey batting line-up.

Meanwhile, James Kirtley's smiling face, out-stretched arms and clenched fists were adorning front and back pages of all the papers.

He even made the back page of The Sun, sharing it with a photo about David Beckham (perhaps there are some parallels between Sussex and Manchester United after all). Now that will be something to tell his grandchildren about.

Of course, Ambi deserves the limelight he is now in. It is as if years of misfortune and bad luck have been repaid in one single famous game at Trent Bridge.

Knowing him and listening to his calm, reflective interviews after the game, he will be entirely focused on one thing - performing well in the next game too.

He will have, for the moment at least, put this last game behind him and make sure he is in the best possible frame of mind to put the ball in exactly the same areas on another potential seamers wicket at Headingley.

That is the kind of dedication, professionalism and attention to detail that has got him as far as he is now and will, hopefully, enable him to be an England bowler for years to come.

It was all a far cry from us. Our bus never did turn up and we had to pile into cars. Just imagine the Manchester United bus not knowing how to get to Old Trafford. Yes, we've a long way to go still.