Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

Monday see’s the release of the 2012 County Cricket fixtures, a day which is eagerly by cricket fans all over the country. I am one who always look forward to the fixtures coming out, as I can then plan my summer around when and where Somerset are playing.

There are always a few fixtures I look out for every season: the first home game, the game on my birthday, what date are the finals (do I dare put that in my diary) etc. There is one fixture in particular I am looking out for this season, Scotland, away, in the CB40 competition.

Edinburgh is a wonderful city and the Grange, where Scotland play their home games, is such a wonderful ground, with an excellent pavilion steeped in history, having visited there a couple of seasons ago.

Along with Steve Easden and Andrew ‘Bungle’ Ebsary, we flew to Edinburgh from Bristol, a bargain and only an hour in the air, getting there a day before the game. We checked in to out hotel, went to put our bags in our room and was astonished by the size of it.

The room was the complete opposite to the one we had in Newquay, it had 13 beds, two TV’s, two washrooms; think of it the size of an assembly room back at school, it was massive. So much so that if I wanted to have a conversation with Steve or Bungle at the other end of the room I had to phone them! At first we thought that we would be sharing with others, a bit like a dormitory, so we had to double check with reception, who assured us the room was all ours!

With the cricket being played the next day, we had all day to discover Edinburgh, its history, cafes and bars! A very fun day indeed.

The next day we made our way down to The Grange where I met up with a friend of mine, Stuart Hurcombe, who moved to Scotland some years ago now, and his boy is a very accomplished cricketer.

Somerset won that day by 37 runs, even though 220-8 didn’t seem a large enough total to defend. However the bowling of Alfonso Thomas and Zander de Bruyn restricted Scotland to 183 all out.

Steve, due to his work at Somerset, knows a few of the cricketers from the club; during the interval he was chatting with the likes of James Hildreth, Peter Trego and Mark Turner. Now you would of thought they would chatting about cricket and the match in progress, but it seems they were talking about what Steve got up to the previous night and what his plans were for that evening! Visiting local hostelries’ so we could chat to the natives was the response.

Scotland – see you in 2012.

The debate about Test cricket rages on over the past week. Peter Oborne wrote a cracking article in the Telegraph on Thursday – Cricket is being destroyed by this indecent obsession with money – was the piece. The crux of the article is that the authorities are looking for short term financial gains instead of looking longer term and safe guarding Test cricket.

Oborne used the South Africa v Australia Test series as an example. Last week cricket lovers were privileged to witness one of the finest Test matches ever played, between two of the oldest Test playing nations at Johannesburg. Having won the first Test, South Africa started favourites, but only managed to score 266 in their first innings.

The match ebbed and flowed from there, and Australia were set 310 to win the game. That final day was compelling viewing, with more twists than an Agatha Christie novel. Australia crawled their was to the victory line, with 18 year old Pat Cummins (one to look out for in the next Ashes series), showing immense nerve and skill to guide the Aussies home.

One all in the series, and guess what, no third, forth or even a fifth Test. Instead, a host of ODI’s and T20 games; which means the lining of pockets of the idiots in charge.  South Africa and Australia are two of the oldest and two of the best Test playing countries and these two nations deserve a five Test series.

When South Africa visit our shores next summer, we effectively have play-off to decide who is the number one Test team in the world, again a five Test series is worthy of this encounter. Instead, thanks to the cricketing authorities, we have a three Test series against the West Indies, then a host of ODI’s against Australia (why? – money); followed by a three Test series against South Africa, then more ODI’s against the Proteas. Graeme Swann could be right in saying get rid of ODI’s, there seems to be too much of it.

The third Teat between India and the West Indies is another testament why Test cricket is so good. With two huge totals in each of their first innings, a draw seemed odds on. However a dramatic first session to the fifth day set up a run chase for India, which they duly obliged and started to hunt down a winning total 243.

The last hour was compelling, with all four results still possible. It ebbed and flowed one way then another. Coming down to the last ball, when two was required to win, India managed a single, the scores were level, and because West Indies didn’t get India all out it was a draw. Great game, compelling last day – I always said that the last couple days of a Test (and a four day game) are the best.

With this in mind David Morgan, the former ECB chairman, has proposed that the County Championship should be reduced by two games, so enabling more T20 games and the 40 over game being increased to a 50 over competition. The only benefit I can see from that is that there will be a much needed increase in revenue for the Counties; however the quality of cricket, sadly, will slowly diminish.

Following on from that, Somerset announced, earlier in the week, record profits for the year ended 30 September 2011. The club saw a 15% increase in turnover to £5.34m, giving an operating profit of £408,000. Somerset attracts a large membership, plus have their marketing heads screwed on right, plus a successful season on the pitch, no wonder they return a profit nearly every year. Other Counties must be jealous of how Somerset are run.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Great to see so many at the funeral of Elsie, and also good to see so many former players from Over Stowey attend. Can’t wait for the old boy’s game next season.

Well, its 10.57, time to blow the froth of a few, to get rid of this rugby hangover from yesterday.