As the co-founder of a now sadly defunct and admittedly frivolous organisation devoted to the cricketing career of Ben Hutton, it would appear that I was the obvious choice to write a piece for MTWD following his departure from Middlesex CCC. Having agreed to do this, it seems only fair that I warn readers of my slightly fraudulent credentials before I begin. Unlike some on this board, I cannot say that I have watched every single one of Ben's innings, or attended more than thirty or forty of his 189 championship games for the club, but as a certain spinach-munching cartoon character might say, I knows what I knows, and that's what I'll share with you now.

Unfortunately, our most recent memories of Ben are perhaps not the fondest. In 2006, while club captain, he was laid low for a large part of the season with shingles, and his previously strong form at the top level was never regained. Struggling for a place in the side and not performing at his best when he did appear, Ben eventually decided to pursue a career elsewhere; one with which we all wish him the very best of luck. (David Nash once wrote in the Crusader magazine that he had spotted Ben wearing a terrible sheepskin coat during his winter stint in the city, but surprisingly enough the headline "Hutton Dressed As Lamb" was somehow avoided). But despite the somewhat disappointing finish to Ben's career, I'm sure nobody at MCCC has forgotten the two seasons when he truly was at the top of his game- 2004 and 2005. Scorecards from these matches show a number of marvellous performances from a great Middlesex man, and these were the two years when Ben managed to score over 1000 runs, although he had come extremely close in 2003 with 961.

I feel that Ben had two great strengths in the game- his obdurate championship batting and his dynamic fielding, which mostly manifested itself in spectacular close catching and ground-fielding in one-day matches. In addition to these skills he was a tight and reliable medium-pace bowler who often picked up vital wickets or kept run rates down when it mattered the most. It would be rather untrue to say that he was feared with a bat in his hand in the pyjama game, but this is only one small weakness, and we could all name quite a few first-class cricketers with more flaws than that. In any case, Ben's reputation for slow scoring was not wholly deserved, as a couple of examples will show later on.

Ben scored 18 first-class centuries for Middlesex, and my personal favourite performance was a game where he managed to notch two of these tons, versus Kent at Southgate in July 2004. Over the course of three days, Ben stylishly stroked his way to 100 and 107 to give us a healthy lead going into the final day, when we would have to claim eight wickets to win. Even then, his contribution was far from over. Michael Bevan and David Fulton were both looking dangerous and a large partnership threatened to spoil Middlesex's day... before our man popped up with not one, but two vital catches to dismiss both batsmen and propel us towards victory. Incidentally, Ben's career average at Southgate is 55- if only we'd played more games there!

Other worthy innings I can remember include an entertaining 90 against Worcestershire in a first-wicket partnership of 167 with Sven Koenig (not something we often achieve!) and a courageous 126 following on against Warwickshire, a game which we sadly lost when no other batsman proved to have as much backbone as Ben. But possibly the most important innings he ever played for our beloved club was our final championship game of the 2005 season. Opening the batting against Surrey on the first morning, when bonus points were absolutely imperative, Ben scored a crucial 79 and we were able to declare at 400, all but ensuring that our rivals would be relegated instead of us.

As I said earlier, Ben was also one of the finest fielders in the county game, and his record would prove this even to people who had not experienced any of his incredible work over the years. He took over 200 catches for Middlesex, many of them in the slips on cold championship mornings or flinging himself acrobatically around the square in 20 or 40-over games. Possibly the best moment I can remember was his dismissal of Robert Key in the 20/20 cup at Uxbridge, where he dived full-length at short midwicket to pull off a stunning catch centimetres from the ground. This seems like a good moment to bring up the question of Ben's batting strike rate, as later in that game he smacked 27* from 21 balls to guide us home. This was one of two innings I would personally cite as one-day wonders from our normally subdued left-hander, the other being his match-winning 40 from 36 balls when we frantically chased down a total against Somerset the previous season. However, while we're in the stats, I also remember a painstaking 3 from 43 while battling to save the game against a Murali-inspired Kent in 2003, the same innings which saw Paul Weekes take 170 balls over his 51.

I will bring this piece to a close with a brief story from July 2005, when we played a 20/20 game against Hampshire at Richmond. For the very first time, I had persuaded my girlfriend to come along and see the match, with the promise that it would be full of exciting boundaries and catches (it was, but none of them were Middx's). Her knowledge of cricket is somewhat limited, but even she was aware that Ben, having lost his off stump to his very first ball and left the pitch within thirty seconds of having entered it, had not exactly lived up to my billing. During Hampshire's innings he then dropped a sitter right in front of us as the visitors went on to record a crushing victory. Ben, we salute you.