Cook and Flintoff light up the summer sky

This needs mentioning. The English Twenty20 cup was played tonight, with two particular innings not just catching my attention but grabbing me by the neck and forcing me to watch.

Firstly, to Derbyshire vs Lancashire and a certain Andrew Flintoff. Those who say he's out of form with the bat are justified and it's been years since a really significant innings from the big man. He scored a decent fifty last week against Hampshire but tonight he really lit up the stage. Coming in at 70-3, Flintoff blazed an incredible 93 off of just 41 deliveries. He whacked a total of 9 fours and 6 sixes as he completely dominated, looking very much like the all-conquering, big-hitting Flintoff of old. He was just denied an outstanding century by a staggering catch in the last over, predictably going for another gargantuan six.

Down at The Oval, England team mate Alastair Cook went one better. Not really considered as a Twenty20 player due to his patient batting style, Cook fired a blistering, unbeaten hundred off just 57 balls (hitting 4 sixes!) in an opening stand of 167. The innings comes as yet another unbelievable score in domestic T20 from Cook this season as he warmed up for the coming Ashes series is considerable style.

Both innings considerably defied belief. Flintoff's purely because you can just never be certain of a big performance from him with the bat. Watching those sixes sail into the crowd time and again was the most thrilling sight for English cricket fans. Cook has been confounding critics who say he can't play T20 this year with a collection of quite stunning innings. It's a marvellous achievement when any batsman scores a hundred in this format of the game - for the conservative Cook to do it is quite remarkable.

Hugely ironic that they should choose to do it now that the World Twenty20 has ended. Anyone watching these men bat would have been massively geed up for the Ashes. It's important no-one gets carried away, though. T20 is hardly the best indication of Test form and hopefully there will be none of the usual media hyperbole. You certainly won't be reading any here.

To hell with it. We're going to win the Ashes 5-0.