Henry Blofeld: Jefferson the lamp-post will turn on light for Fletcher

The English domestic cricket season has cavorted to its close with a surfeit of runs. Warwickshire scored more than 400 in their fourth innings to beat Sussex and claimed second place in the First Division. Surrey made an almost indecent number in their rancorous game against Leicestershire, with Adam Hollioake reaching his first double century, and Essex made 343 for 3 to beat Nottinghamshire and win the Second Division.

It was in this last game that perhaps the most significant innings was played. Will Jefferson, who has graduated from Durham University where he will have greatly profited from being shown the way by the former England opener Graham Fowler (probably the best of all the English coaches), was 165 not out when Essex reached their target.

During this innings, his second Championship hundred of the season, he completed 1,000 first-class runs, right at the end of what has been a wonderful first season. Jefferson is unique in that he stands 6ft 10in tall and is the tallest recorded batsman to play first-class cricket.

He comes from good cricketing stock too. His father, Richard, played for Cambridge before lending Surrey a hand for a season or two. He was also no dwarf without quite achieving his son's elevation and was distinctly hostile at fast-medium and a more than adequate lower middle-order batsman to boot. Sadly, he became disenchanted with county cricket just when it looked as if he might win an England cap. He legged it to Norfolk where he played a season or two in the Minor Counties Championship before tucking it away altogether.

But, at least, he has passed on the relevant genes to his son who has also clearly profited from the advice, the enthusiasm and the vast knowledge of Graham Gooch in his first year as the Essex coach. Jefferson is a delightful batsman to watch, being keen to come on to the front foot and to drive the ball into the V between extra cover and midwicket.

He does this with power and timing, making excellent use of his considerable reach. He will, in time, be forced more and more on to the back foot, but bowlers may have a problem in adjusting their length to his enormous reach. As England discovered to their great cost at Headingley, bowlers can have difficulty adjusting their lengths and it may be that Jefferson will be allowed to spend more of his career on his front foot than he really should.

For all that, he is highly talented and his height should help him to cope better than most if and when he is forced on to the back foot. As it is, he bats like an elegant and agile lamp-post and there is a touch of an elongated Michael Vaughan about him. In the field, he has made a home for himself at second slip where little gets past him and he has a safe pair of hands. He will not have escaped Duncan Fletcher's attention and he is most certainly one to watch.

That last game at Chelmsford was a splendid advertisement for the benefits of a two-tier County Championship, the brainchild of the retiring chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Lord MacLaurin. In the old days this would have been a boring middle-of-the-table game with the players doing little more than going through the motions in front of the proverbial two men and a dog in their last serious outing of the season. Now there was a Championship and bonus money at stake and, of course, promotion although that had already been assured for both sides.

Although the match ended soon after lunch, more than 2,000 spectators turned up to cheer Essex home. One hopes that Glamorgan's David Morgan, who is to succeed MacLaurin in January, will not be tempted to try and turn back the clock. A Championship of one division with 18 sides now seems to be even more antiquated and counter-productive than it did before it was split into two parts. If anything, even more radical measures still need to be taken.

A transfer system should be put into place so that the really promising young players find a swift means of lifting themselves into the First Division to make it an even more concentrated mixture of excellence. Also, the players in the First Division should be given more money than those in the Second in order to allow human nature a chance to take a hand in persuading players of the need to try and improve their lot.

Surrey deserve congratulations for winning the Championship and their captain, Adam Hollioake, for making such a significant contribution in what has been a dreadful year for him with the tragic death of his younger brother, Ben. Yorkshire, last year's champions who have now been relegated, must think wistfully back to David Byas, their victorious captain, and how they managed to let him go.

The Norwich Union League victory by Glamorgan will cause much delighted waving of leeks and daffodils in that corner of the Principality. Lower down the scale, the Minor Counties Championship was shared by Herefordshire and Norfolk. Herefordshire, with Martin McCague and Kevin Cooper, just failed in the final match to blast out the East Anglians, who were saved by a heroic innings from Chris Borrett. His grandfather, Jack, who died this year, was a great Norfolk cricketing figure and he could have had no more fitting memorial than this.