As Kent and Essex prepare to go toe to toe in Saturday’s Friends Provident final, we asked our panel who they’re backing on the big day…

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Do androids dream of electric sheep? Has that one still not been answered? Luckily, a question I can answer is whether cricket journalists dream of cricket. For I am my own case study: now, I’m not proud of this, and it took me a little while to shake off the worry that this post may forever cast me as the ultimate cricket tragic, but last night I dreamed about KP’s next team announcement.

I was a little let down by my sub-conscious cricket knowledge, as KP wasn’t picking for the first Test in India but the non-existent fifth Test against South Africa next week. That aside, his picks were interesting: in came Adil Rashid for Monty Panesar, Simon Jones for Harmy and Darren Pattinson (remember him?) for Stuart Broad.

At A Level Psychology I was taught that dreams reflect your conscious mind’s desires. I was also taught that if you like horses it means you want to sleep with your mum. But I have no desire to see Pattinson or Rashid in the side (Jones yes), and I also have no desire to see KP make stupid captaincy calls and do badly. I also can’t imagine any of them LIKE horses.

However, dig deeper and I think I have it. Without having really thought about it I’m getting a little fed up with Monty. He doesn’t seem to be a great thinker of the game, he’s yet to develop an arm-ball, his fielding has regressed to sub-amateur level and he doesn’t take enough top wickets.

Then there’s Broad. I like him. He seems to have a great attitude, looks like he’ll be good enough to be a top performer in three or four years and is a fine batsman. But his bowling is lacking pace and variation – so far. When there’s a proven Test winner like Jones waiting for a recall it’s starting to look a little absurd keeping Broad in the side.

So there you go. Yes, dreaming about cricket may be deserving of a Cartoon Tie Nerd Award but it’s also revealed to me what had been stirring at the back of my mind but refusing to form – my desire is that Broad and Monty need replacing.

Not so long ago I also dreamed that 67-year-old Paul Nixon was picked as England wicketkeeper for the World Cup. Now that’s not even worth analysing. That couldn’t possibly happen.

Daniel Brigham is assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer