Not Long Now..................

21st March! Bloody Hell - it's still snowing up here.....

We can't even get on the square to start prep work at my club.

Shame it's not sooner I could have gone.  I foresee an awful lot of 2 day finishes in the first round of games!

Yes that seems to be the new thing.  Gloucestershire were doing that as well - must cost a bomb though I guess cheaper than flying everyone to somewhere tropical! Players must be gutted - goodbye nice trip to the Carribean/South Africa to bond in sunshine, hello freezing field in England in March!

If I was Somerset I'd take a gamble on their batting holding up better than it did last year (so many players had the worst years of their career last time it's reasonable to think they'll biunce back this time) and go outand get a gun seamer to help take 20 wickets.  I think if you had that the attack would look scary.

I think Division One is impossible to call this year. Any of them could win it in my opinion and any of them could go down. A lot will depend on who ends up in the England Test team I think. If you take Leach and one of the Overtons out of the Somerset side, or Vince and Northeast out of the Hampshire team, or Livingstone and Hameed out of the Lancashire team or Moeen and Clarke out of the Worcester side then that has a massive impact. The late call ups to the IPL have had an impact on Yorkshire and Surrey have been impacted by Marsh's injury. There are just so may variables that it is wide open.

The County that I have seen most of over the last few years are Worcester. Last year I said that the key to their success would be Barnard and Tongue stepping up. They both did that commendably. If Tongue can stay fit then he will play for England in a few years I think. If Moeen isn't in the test side then I guess he'll play for Worcester in September when wickets are tired and he could make a real impact. The fact that Worcester have signed Travis Head rather than a spinner (as they have done in previous years) indicates that Mo may be around a bit more this summer. An attack of Leach, Magoffin, Barnard, Tongue, D'Oliveira and Moeen Ali is not to be underrated (although if Moeen can't play then I am not sure D'Oliveira and Rhodes are good enough spinners to mount a serious challenge). Leach in particular is such an asset. He's a bit like Brookes at Yorkshire. Not quite good enough to be called up to the test side, but in the next rung down which means he is always available. He can bat too. Pat Brown is the latest one off the conveyor belt. He has a yard of pace too. I'm looking forward to seeing if he can develop this year.

For the batting unit, it's a big year for Joe Clarke. If he can score 1000 runs at this level then he will surely find himself in the test side (although his record this winter suggests he might not score that many runs in Sri Lanka and the Caribbean). Daryl Mitchell is another good solid pro. As long as the change in coach and everything associated with that has not destabilized the team too much, and they don't suffer too many injuries then I think Worcester could surprise people. Most pundits seem to have them nailed on for a relegation spot but I think this group of players are better than they have been the last few times they've played in Div 1.

As for Gloucestershire, they seem to have all but given up on red ball cricket. The signings of Higgins, Worrall and Tye indicate that in my opinion. I am not sure whether Klinger will be around for any white ball cricket this year and he would obviously be a huge loss. I think they are a very difficult county to follow at the moment and the promise of everything being OK once the ground was finished hasn't really materialized. They're also the biggest City (and biggest ground) to miss out on a T20 Franchise which they have been surprisingly quiet about. Perhaps there is some unseen benefit to be had - after all, there are a few sweeteners flying around at the moment according to the press.

That said, I absolutely love watching Jack Taylor play cricket. It will be interesting to see how he gets on as a batsman only this season. They also have a couple of academy players in the side now too which is nice. I hope Craig Miles can stay fit and rediscover his form this year.

If I have to stick my neck out, I reckon Surrey will win the league and Yorkshire and Notts will go down (both have lost players for various reasons and not really added). Division Two will be between Sussex, Warwickshire and Middlsex, with a nod in the direction of Northants who always seem to excel. First season I have not tipped Kent to go up in the last three though, so get your money on them!

What's everyone's view on the influx of overseas players this year? I have changed my mind on this a bit and I think the likes of Kohli, Amla, Morkel, Steyn and Pujara playing county cricket is a good thing. I read that only 2 English qualified players scored over 1000 runs in the first division last year. I also think there are plenty of young cricketers getting their chance and so an inlux of quality overseas talent may help to raise the standard. I also think giving the Indian's some decent practice is no bad thing for Test cricket. We need away sides to start to become a bit more competitive.

Thanks Jack - that was interesting.

On overseas players-I think I'm supportive of the quality over quantity argument.  I don't think anyone could object to the signing of top class players; Sangakarra was magnificent to watch and incredibly professional as well. He clearly loved every minute of being at Surrey and it made you wonder why he was retiring really - felt like he could go on for years. ,Kohli, Steyn, Pukara etc are exciting signings.  I like the addition of Rashid Khan for the T20 at Sussex too - that's a really interesting signing.  What I never liked was the height of the Kolpak era where it felt like counties were signing players who were only marginally better than what was available purely because they were cheaper than homegrown products in order to cover their ineptitude in developing their own talent.  There was a time when it felt like the entirity of Division 2 of the Championship may as well have doubled for a 2nd rate South African domestic tournament.  It was pointless and it was also quite dull to watch.  Happily counties seem to be slowly completing the process of weaning themselves off that.  I also like your argument about Indian players using it for prep - that is something England (and indeed world cricket) could maybe look at given the acclimitisation problems which seem to be plaguing Test series right now.  It's also a good sign - India is taking it seriously this time, I thought it was pretty obvious that they really weren't that bothered the last 2 times they've come over.  It's always been an issue that they care mightily about home Tests but aren't that focused away from home - hard to see Kohli accepting that particularly as England look so vulnerable.  Hopefully that augurs well for the Test summer.  Don't sleep on Pakistan either  -they could easily turn us over in our current state too.  But overall county cricket needs high class players wherever they come from.

Interesting comments on Worcestershire.  I remain massively impressed with their ability to churn out solid county performers through their own system.  I don't think any smaller county does this better and it should shame the likes of Gloucestershire and Leicestershire who actually have quite big catchment areas with lots of cricket going on and are particularly terrible at developing their own.  When they complain about how difficult it is - Worcestershire make a nice counterpoint showing how it can be done.  Joe Clarke is a particularly intrigung player who is now finally getting some England noise -plenty of spots up for grabs, he has as decent shot as anyone I think.  I would have thought the big story with Worcester would be whether they will have that continuity now Steve Rhodes has gone - there is an unbroken stable line going back a long time and that whole story must have really jolted them.  Not to mention the usual unfortunate New Road situation might mean they struggle early on.  Be interesting to see if they can stay up though or even 'do an Essex'.

Predictions; I agree it's very hard with CC1 this year.  You can make a decent case for or against pretty much any team and you're right that it may well come down to who gets most hit by England call-ups because the margins a so small.  Compare with a few years ago where Yorkshire just looked so deep in talent (interesting to see how many of their depth players have now dispersed to other counties - that will hurt them as much as the big losses to IPL and white ball only etc) that they were an obvious pick.  Their decline has created a bit of a vacuum and no one has clearly stepped into it yet.  As excellent as Essex were last year one significant injury to Porter or Harmer and they could find themselves in the same boat as Middlesex.  Lancashire are the team I'll see most again and seem many people's trendy pick.  You always have to keep in mind the handicap of playing in Manchesterfor Champonship cricket, it really does matter and the numbers back this up - especially so in a 14 game season.  I'm planning on going this weekend but it already looks odds on the Manchester rain will win out in this one.  In theory, they do have a very strong looking side but while Onions was a great pick up all he is doing is replacing the excellent Kyle Jarvis and it's likely he will not be as reliable fitness wise.  They do have some talented young fast bowlers though led by Saqib Mahmood.  Watch out for Matt Parkinson - I'm convinced he's the real leggy prospect in England, not Mason Crane.  He's much more attacking - hopefully they will give him more of a look this year (although I'm sure not in the next few weeks).  Lancs have something you need with the batting in terms of motivation - almost a whole lineup playing for England spots.  Should be interesting at Old Trafford but I'm not quite prepared to pick them to win it as they have too many negative tendencies.  I agree that along with Yorks, Notts look most vulnerable early on but both those teams have bowling attacks that can bail them out and money to make in-season adjustments.  The Morkel signing at Surrey should push them from looking over their shoulders to being in the contending pack.  I'd like Hampshire to go down so I'm going to back them for them for the drop alongside Yorkshire who I just think have lost too many players.  My tip for the Championship - Somerset.  What the hell - I just have this feeling that the true Somerset Championship team looks more like the one we saw 2 years ago than the one we saw last year.  Yes there might be an issue if Leach goes off to England.  But they've probably played the most aggressive cricket of any Championship team in the last couple of years and that backfired on them a couple of times last year where they lost a couple of games they shouldn't have done.  But, in this 14 game Championship I think that's the right way to go and, in a tight race, would be enough to make a difference against the likes of Lancs and Surrey who are depressingly negative at times (both have new Captains so it will be interesting to see if that changes).  But really anyone could win it and I think we all know that.

On CC2 - It's boring but it's hard to look past the 3 horse race consensus on Sussex, Middlesex and Warwickshire and I'm going to pick Warwickshire as the ones to miss out.  They really did have a nightmere season last year and haven't made huge changes.  They still look an odd mixture of the old and the not particularly proven and that could come just as undone in Div 2 as it did in Div 1.  The other 2 just look too strong to me for what remains a mediocre division.  I always pick Glamorgan as my sleeper because I always expect their youngsters to step up a level but they never do so maybe they're just not very good! It's hard to make much of a case although I do see Northants as something of a poor man's Worcestershire - they just seem well run and make the best of what they have unlike many in that division.  Kent are a mess and have lost more than they've gained so hard to see much there.  Leicestershire have done what they always seem to do and signed a grey beard to captain them-Carberry might get it done but I doubt it.  They have a very odd team.  Derby and Durham both look like they're cutting their cloth at the moment and can't really compete.  So that leaves our merry band at Nevil Road - I'm a little more optimistic but largely because I think most of the competition has gone backwards.  I thought Higgins was one of the more interesting signings they've made for a while (a.Young and b. Not a Wicket Keeper.  I was shocked - I thought we'd just become a wicket keeper's retirement home.....).  If the bowling attack stays fit then they will be able to win matches on green tops but as usual there's next to no batting that you can identify.  Bowlers must lick their lips when Gloucestershire is looming on the fixture list.  I also don't understand why they weren't screaming about the franchise T20 thing....ho-hum, add it to the list of underwhelming management decisions.

Well done Jack and Irish, I enjoyed the predictions for the season. Can’t really argue with any of it. I’m just a bit annoyed I’m going to miss all the start of the season as I’m in Oz with family for April. Mind you with the weather being so bad back home it looks like the first day is going to be a washout. So the first red card to give is to the ECB for their appalling scheduling of the season. It seems to be my annual moan about the ECB. They seem more concerned about the IPL and creating their own “let’s-all-get-drunk-and-watch-people smashing-a-cricket-ball-for-half-an-hour-in-between-our-trips-to-the-bar-and-balance-all-our-beer-glasses-in-the-tallest-tower- League” for cities only of course. Their let’s not play proper cricket in June and July policy will become a self-fulfilling prophecy soon if they are not careful.
On what’s been said about the CC1 I can’t disagree too much. I see Peter Moores at Notts has said it will be the most open championship for years and it’s hard at the moment to disagree. It might turn out to be different by the end of September but I do think it will be very close. Every county has chance of success. Surrey because they do recruit the best players. Morkel could do very well and on those Oval wickets his pace could turn a few draws into wins and make a difference. Add to that the chance that Kohli might be coming early on will make them a very good side. Their natural arrogance might make them the team everyone else has to beat. Essex should do well again although it will be harder as it always is the second time. Yorkshire have lost a few players and have still to convince me that the post-Gillespie era that they are as good a team as they were. With England taking their best players I don’t think they will threaten the top this year. The thing in their favour is that they may unearth another good young prospect and Coad as a bowler might do well again but not enough to win the league. Worcestershire I don’t know enough about them to comment in any meaningful way. That they are similar to Somerset in that the majority of the team will come through their academy seems to me that they will do fairly well if they can keep them and I like what you said jack about Joe Clarke. Lots of good things being said about him and if England come calling I would imagine it will be in a year or twos time not this season. Joe Leach did well against us two years ago but wasn’t enough to keep them up then. I hope they can stay in the league and avoid going back down again. I would imagine the change in their coaching team might be the most important factor in them doing well or not. Notts have recruited quite well, I like Ross Taylor, but the fact that Hales has decided to go white ball cricket only makes me wonder if the desire for the championship isn’t there in the club if they allow that to happen. If they had a chance of winning the championship then Hales wouldn’t have given up that chance so that tells me they are not confident about putting in a challenge. Somerset I always feel confident about. I think we could do well. That we have now signed Renshaw makes me more confident about our batting strength which we needed to do. Last year we all knew we were short of a very good batsman to supplement our youngsters and our new rookie captain. This year feels more like 2016 than 2017 and our bowlers are just as good. Some feel that with Gregory and Jamie Overton recovering from big injuries and with Craig O and Jack Leach possibly being involved with England we could be short in the bowling department this year. It could turn out that way but I’m not convinced Leach will have much of an England involvement. By the time Mason Crane has recovered from his injury and played his first match he will be the golden boy again. And when he has taken 2-110 the selectors will prefer him to Leach who will only have about 20 wickets at a good average! Craig Overton might be involved but I think Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Wood will come above him and with Stokes also able to bowl I’m not sure Overton will get the England call. If both those happen then we will be a strong team. Last year we had an awful start to the season but with more runs we could have turned most of those defeats into victories. Bowling out teams twice wasn’t our biggest problem, scoring enough runs was and I can’t see us having so many players in bad form all at the same time this year. Our team togetherness will be even better with Andy Hurry and Jason Kerr replacing Maynard who was not overly liked by the fans nor the players. The new coach pairing are returning and have a great feel for Somerset and is a big part of why I am confident. Last season we were dead and gone at the bottom of the table yet we recovered because, imo, the Somerset players feel they could beat anyone at Taunton with our attack and the players knew that. This year our captain will do better as a batsman, he couldn’t do worse! But as a captain he was very good and marshalled his bowlers really well and in the matches I saw out-thought his opposing captains. He really made the Warwickshire and Lancashire captains look poor at Taunton with his positivity, he was prepared to lose the match in gambling on winning it. Although it could be said we had at that stage nothing to lose! He will become an even better captain with more experience and less pressure this year. But my choice for champions will come from Lancashire and Hampshire. Lancashire have got a very strong batting side with Hameed and Jennings and Davies at the top of the order, all vieing to open, competition will be strong and their middle order looks as good. I saw Lancashire get hammered at Taunton last year in early September when they still had an outside chance of the championship and as you said irish they were very negative. But Parkinson though expensive got a few wickets and looked very good. The wicket helped him but even so. If they can bowl other teams out they will do very well. But the team I think might sneak it is Hampshire and you’ll know from my posts over the past two seasons that it really hurts me to say this. I think as a club it has become a rich man’s toy (Bransgrove) and in 2016 they avoided relegation on a pretext. They have been too reliant on kolpac players and the way they throw money at players has always been questionable to me. But the signing of Sam Northeast, Hashim Amla and keeping Kyle Abbott who was I thought the best fast bowler in the championship last year has meant they will have a very good team and it wouldn’t surprise me if they sign some more players to play at the end of the season. They will, a bit like Surrey, sign players on very short contracts for 1/2 matches. Having Dale Steyn for two matches, one championship and one one-day match shows you their thinking. I hope I’m wrong.

In CC2 I haven’t seen enough of the other teams to comment. We haven’t played, so I haven’t seen, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Kent or Glamorgan in the past 5 years or more so I’d be doing them an injustice by judging them. I hope Gloucestershire do well if only for being the county of my birth and being the first t3am I saw back in the 60s. But I’m afraid it’s more hope than expectation. Middlesex and Sussex look the strongest to me, Middlesex have kept most of their better players and Gubbins, Askinazy and Robson could fill their boots with runs in the league. Toby R-J , depending on his injury, could be very effective and with Finn will be a strong attack in that league I would have thought.

Well that was 4 days of total carnage.  This is what you get for starting the Championship so early; ie. the clic-clac of the pavillion gate permanently swinging backwards and forth as terrified looking batsman after terrified looking batsman is dispatched back to the hutch from whence they came!  Some very early thoughts (obvious moans aside).

-Despite all the pre-season narrative around the competition for top order England batting spots I think the incumbents had a very good week on the whole.  No one has really staked any kind of claim apart from Vince who made a decent case for himself as the 'best of the rest' which he usually does to be honest.
-Lancs people found the Yorkshire situation very funn - we were all sat in the sunshine Saturday afternoon while no one saw any cricket in Leeds.  There was much chortling although it doesn't really sound like much could be done.  Even the best drainage cannot beat the water table.
-Exciting start for Glos. Good to see Higgins in the wickets.  I hope Howell's vital knock means he will feature in the side all summer this time.  Promising stuff - 1st opening match away win for 20 years apparently!
-I saw a good ding-dong at Old Trafford (I'll discuss that a bit more below).
-Already looking like once again the step-up might be a bit of an ask for Worcester.  I think the concern would be that their bowling attack did pretty well and still didn't really put them properly in the game.  That Hants batting lineup is scary if they hold onto them all.  My dislike of Hampshire has probably blinded me to their contender status.
-A general thought but I was struck by the number of players at Old Trafford who out to very average deliveries.  Now you could just say that's 'early season form' but I don't think that really washes in the modern game with the prep that goes in.  I wonder if it's more case that when the ball is fizzing about and you're never really comfortable maybe you're just more liable to make basic mistakes.

So I had an odd weekend cricket wise.  I spent a good period of time at my club's ground desperately trying to bucket water off the square so that we will be able to get on it in theweek to prepare the first league games next weekend (prospects look pretty good actually with the weather forecast) but in between I saw almost 2 whole days play at Old Trafford and on Saturday afternoon I was genuinely amazed to find myself sat in the suntrap in short sleeved shirt soaking up the rays at 7.30PM on an April evening! Hats off to Lancs as well for dropping the prices - £10 for Saturday and £5 for Sunday and they had a decent crowd especially on Saturday when we had the good weather.  It was also a terrific game to watch given the talent on display which crudely amounted to Notts attack of England seam up hopefuls vs Lancs top order England hopeful which in the end resulted in a TKO in favour of the Notts bowlers.  Obviously I wasn't there this morning when Gurney wrapped things up on a ridiculous morning that gives the impression the game was more lopsided than it really was. In reality Notts were always a nose ahead in this a very low scoring game and Lancs could never quite pull it back.  The key moment was probably Sunday morning.  Lancs had impressively bowled themselves back into it in the final Saturday session as Notts went from a fairly comfortable 60-1 to 122-6.  But Moores and Wessels invoked the spirit of more recent Notts success with a lower order partnership which decisively swung it and was I think one of only 2 50 run partnerships in the game.  Lancs gambled that Bailey and Mennie who had done the damage the night before could finish Notts off - instead the partnership held and an injury to Jordan Clarke robbed Lancs of any kind of plan B which was exemplified when they bafflingly threw the ball to Keaton Jennings who duly conceded 20 off 2 overs to mark the decisive shift in Notts favour.

I don't think you can read too much into the various England implications from this match.  I thought Hameed and Jennings looked more solid than most (likewise Samit Patel for Notts) in the difficult conditions and Livingstone looked particularly uncomfortable but in truth no one looked 'in' throughout the whole game.  Even when Moores and Wessels were going well it was more because they were taking their chances - it still felt like Lancs were going past the edge once an over.  Likewise it's pleasing that the bowling prospects exploited the conditions but you would be worried if they didn't.  On the Lancs bowling side their Aussie Mennie looks a good signing.  Definitely has a bit of zip about him - might have been the quickest bowler on display and there was a sparkplug quality about him.  Tom Bailey though was the pick of the bowlers and gives them a bit of a selection headache because I assume he was only picked because Mahmood was injured.  But he caused Notts trouble throughout.  Onions on the other hand looked very rusty and was struggling to bowl one side of the wicket or exploit the conditions properly - could just be nerves though.  It was certainly not a dull way to start the cricket season!

More interesting latest round in the Championship.  Little bit more balance between bat and ball.  A few notes;

-Glos and Sussex robbed of a grandstand finish by the weather.  Particularly frustrating for Glos as they were favourites from that position and it would have been 2 wins out of 3 to start the season.  Higgins continues to impress which is pleasing.
-Good win for Somerset over an increasingly disapointing looking Yorkshire.  Why did Leach not play by the way?
-Notts appear to be the early pacesetter.  Are they yet again going to win the league the year after being promoted? That would be the 3rd time they'd pulled that off.

I saw one day of Lancs-Surrey; the final one.  Definitely a day for the hardcore county fan as Surrey ground out the draw.  I think Lancs have reasons to be a bit concerned here - they really should have been able to win.  Burns and Stoneman did well at the top to hold off the onslaught from Onions and Bailey who both bowled very well.  The problem was the backup bowling looked innocuous.  I'm not convinced that Jordan Clarke is cut out to be a top division Championship bowler really (decent in the limited overs stuff though) and the Aussie Mennie was very disappointing given what he'd done in the previous home game.  Neither beat the bat consistently on a day when conditions should have been favourable for them.  Showed the limits of Livingstone as a bowling option - I bet they wished they had Parkinson in the side and they need wins now so I'd expect to see him play from now on.  Onions was unlucky as a bowler can be though (passed the edge so often and had 2 dropped catches) and Bailey surely has to start getting some England buzz; he's had a great start to the season.

It seems a bit daft doesn't it - rotating the England spinner out of the lineup! But I suppose that's what you get for scheduling so many games in April and Somerset need to keep Bess happy especially if Leach does end up cementing an England place.  You are half-right about Lancs batting lineup because, while it was the first time the vaunted order actually delivered, it was mainly the bottom end and lower order that pushed them up to that imposing score.  The highly touted top order failed yet again - so much for the next England batting solution coming out of Old Trafford, none of the likely candidates have made any kind of case for themselves.  But then neither has anyone else really.  Vince might just be sitting pretty here.  I think Lancs will be pretty worried about their start to the season to be honest - from what I've seen so far they are more likely to be near the bottom than the top which is not what they were expecting.  It's quite simple - too many players not playing very well.  If you'd said that Bailey would be their leading wicket taker at this point I think everyone would have assumed that would mean they'd be right up there - instead he's the only one keeping them in games right now.  I want to go this weekend but it might be tricky this time.  I may have to hope for another match that goes the distance.