Me and My Kit: Graham Cowdrey, cricketer

IT'S amazing how much you can get into a cricket 'coffin'. Wherever Kent play, mine contains two pairs of gloves, two bats, a set of pads, one pair of full spiked boots for slippery conditions, one pair with half spikes and half rubber which I wear most of the time, and a pair of running shoes for warm-ups.

There is also a box, a thigh pad, a county cap, a club tracksuit and a helmet in there. Hopefully, you only need to renew a helmet every couple of years, but the visors can be fragile, so if you drop it a replacement is necessary.

I pack two of everything else - flannels, shirts, socks and jockstraps. I always carry a sleeveless sweater because I find a proper one too inhibiting. I'd rather freeze than feel constrained.

I also pack an old photo of Van Morrison for inspiration, a tape of his album Astral Weeks, a contact lens case, about pounds 6 in 20ps and 50ps for phone calls and card debts, plus copies of the Racing Post and the New Musical Express as well as a pack of cards for those idle moments.

Graham Cowdrey followed his father Sir Colin and brother Chris into the Kent team. They play Hampshire in the B & H final at Lord's next Saturday.

(Photograph omitted)