Kevin Phillips - the best bit of business ever for Blues

Footy's back - and what a start to his Birmingham City career for Kevin Phillips, scoring the winner for the Blues in the last minute of injury time against Sheffield United!

I've always liked Phillips. He strikes you as a hard-working player who never rests on his laurels, and who also has a huge amount of talent.

When MacLeish signed him from the Baggies a few people raised their eyebrows. At the age of 35 he isn't getting any younger, and they thought he might just be looking for a cushy deal to retire on.

But no, I can see him providing a vital boost to the Blues promotion bid, and it might just be the best bit of business ever if his goals get Birmingham back in the Premiership.

The start of the season wasn't so good for Derby and Paul Jewell will be hoping for a win as soon as possible to help his team's fortunes improve. The stats show it has been something like 478.298 years since they actually won a game.

Winning is what Kevin Pietersen managed after his first game in charge of the England team, and I must admit I was very impressed in the style in which we managed to achieve this.

With Harmison looking back to his best, and the rest of the bowling unit stepping up to the plate, we didn't even have that many nervous moments in chasing down the runs to win.

Although you do get the impression that if it were not a dead rubber game, with the Saffers having already won the series, that the result might have been a bit more hotly contested.

I think KP faces some much sterner tests in the future, but it's a great way to show that being captain won't affect your natural game by hitting a ton in your first game in charge.

I got a nice surprise this week for the Mighty Harborne CC by being asked to make the move up to the first team to open the bowling.

The scene was set for a devastating up the hill opening spell in which I took all 10 wickets, scored a ton and even pulled the barmaid after the game (Hang on, wasn't it Steve behind the bar on Sunday? Oh wel,l you get the point).

Alas it was not to be as a torrential downpour robbed us of our game. Ah well, as they say in cricket, there's always next week!