Having just arrived in England I was pleased to see this delightful form of cricket called Pro40.

Originally I misunderstood the terminology as Paul Nixon and Ian Salisbury were playing, but soon after I realised it wasn’t really a senior’s tour event.

Pro40 is a 40-overs a side tournament, which will be well received by those three or four people who think Twenty20 is just too much, and 50-overs is a long day.

Being that they show it on telly, and it’s better than Sky poker, I watched it, albeit with the sound down.

In one match I saw a bloke called Neil Carter play.

This chap opened for some team that ends in shire, and smacked 70-odd off 50-odd.

Later on in the day he bowled low to mid-80’s (I write in miles now as to not confuse myself) with his left arm and took a couple of wickets.

Without the benefit of commentary, I assumed this was a real “player type player” that someone should have their eye on.

I decided to be that eye on him, and perhaps take him under my wing, so I Cricinfo-ed him.

There I found out two startling facts.

He is South African.

And two he is 33 years old.

So you have a 33-year-old non-English cricketer playing a 40-over tournament.

Meatloaf wouldn’t sing about that strike rate.

I don’t know Giles Clarke personally, we don’t smoke cigars on the balcony and discuss our day, but if we did, I think it would be remiss of me not to question the point of a 40-over competition where 33-year-olds from other countries can play.

Clarke should either end this 40-over thingy, or he, and anyone else involved, should apologise for tricking me into searching the world wide net for a middle-aged South African.

Post haste.

It’s the only proper thing to do.

Jrod is an Australian cricket blogger, his site Cricketwithballs.com won July’s Best of Blogs in TWC, and he’ll be writing as dangerously as he’s allowed for the next four weeks.