Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

So remind me, what is that old cricketing cliché? Form is temporary, class is permanent. Kevin Pietersen certainly proved that this past week.

The Pietersen factor will always be like poking a hornets nest (another cliché!), as he tends to be some sort of enigma, you either want him to dropped or hope he succeeds and scores big runs. Always in the headlines, massive crowd puller, celebrity pop star wife and was born in South Africa, choosing to play for England.

Personally, anyone pulling on an England shirt I want them to succeed and do well, even though it does leave a little sour taste in my mouth knowing that an English born player somewhere has missed out.

KP is no exception to this, in fact I want him to succeed more than any other foreign born player who is or has played for England, frankly he just gets under the opposition’s noses and KP is the one scalp they all want, which makes things more spicier.

Having seen him play at Taunton for his former county Hampshire, you know he just oozes class and he was always knew he would get his good form back. I was refusing to jump on the band wagon wanting him dropped from the side, when it seems that everyone I spoke to in the local wanted his head.

I do think, or I should say I know, critics just want to find fault with him, the latest being that he hadn’t scored an ODI ton since 2008, a long time I know. But he does score runs, he does get starts and now the last two innings he has converted into a match wining ton. That 111 not out in the third ODI show how much it meant to him.

The recent Test series against Pakistan wasn’t his best, but it wasn’t for any English batsmen, but people do have short memories. Can anyone tell me during the recent Test series against India who the leading run scorer was? Who was top of the averages? Who (equally) hit the most tons?

KP knows he hasn’t been his best in recent months, no wonder he is usually the first in the nets, and more than likely the last to leave. Working on his technique, trying out new things and how to play left arm spin. Is he back to his best? Well we will see, there is a lot of cricket to be played this year.

Now it seems that I have put the kiss of death on Jos Buttler in last week’s supplement; he had an ODI debut to forget, we shall not dwell on that and as for the first T20, that was just unlucky due to the situation of the game, a shot he just had to play. The second T20, he spilled a difficult chance (in my eyes anyway), but did take a blinding skyer of a catch to get rid of the dangerous Hammad Azam. And we shall not mention the batting, again, whatsoever.

What made me chuckle about the first T20 is what Graham Gooch said afterwards as he was interviewed on Radio 4, he seemed to blame the defeat on Ravi Bopara. He was the man, a few runs on the board, he needed to stay in and be there at the finish to see England home. Guess what happens, he moves across his stumps, exposes his leg stump, Umar Gul says thank you very much, I think I will just clean you up and England go on to lose.

Again he was useless in the second T20, a low score, an easy miss run out opportunity and bowling stupid no balls when he is just at best military medium, there is no excuse for that.

It is not the first time Bopara has failed England, and how many more chance will he get? Anyway, it is simple for me, don’t pick him.

As for Samit Patel, are England really trying to hide him in the field? And as for his one over for 17 runs, no wonder he didn’t get another chance with the ball.

Young Jonny Bairstow steered England to a competitive score of 150 and took two great catches in the deep, which helped England win by a canter. So it is now 1-1 with one to play, I am so glad I finish work early on Monday as it could be quite a good game, come on England.

I see Nick Compton has been hard at work again, but not in the gym, but making his latest ‘Compo’s Clips’. I must admit I do enjoy watching these brief insights in what goes on off the pitch at Somerset, whether it’s the players on the golf course in India or Nick’s visit to Downtown Compton in LA, just great viewing. For the latest Compo’s Clips go just click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/SomersetCricket?feature=BF and enjoy, great insight to the commercial team. Nick – don’t forget the boys in the Centre of Excellence!

Now would you believe Somerset have their first warm up game against Glamorgan in just over three weeks time, can you believe it, the Cheltenham Festival would of just finished, I will be still aching from a tough St Patricks Day (am playing golf, quite early mind, finishing just in time for you know what opens!), and then the mighty Somerset will be having a game against our friends from over the Bristol Channel. Is the cricket season really that close?

Over Stowey had their first work out in the nets last Wednesday evening, no injury report at the moment, but I am sure the sessions will get tougher as the weeks go on, especially when this tall, quick bowler from up north comes along and starts to loosen up!

Personally I am looking forward to the 24^th March, when Over Stowey will have a pre-season get together at our main sponsors, The Cottage Inn. To have a game of skittles, a bite to eat, have a few beers and talk about how many runs we think we are going to score this season. Always an interesting time, especially when the beer starts to flow and tongues start to wag a bit more freely! Perhaps that should be on Compo’s Clips? 

Anyway, 10.57, time for Thatchers Gold I think!

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

What a good tosser Alastair Cook is! He has now captained England 21 times in one day internationals and has now won 17 tosses, so apart from scoring two consecutive centuries helping England to victory, he does has some other uses!

What a complete turn around in form for England, winning the first three ODI’s against Pakistan, especially on the back of a Test series whitewash in the longer format of the game.

Now you will have to excuse me for being a bit perplexed here a little, however England are the number one ranked team in Test cricket and they never looked like winning a spoof let alone a Test match. In complete contrast, they are ranked a lowly fifth in ODI’s, couldn’t win a game for toffee before this series and they go 3-0 up, with captain Cook leading the way.

Cook has particularly impressed me. He is not a Gilchrist or Jayasuriya where they bat all guns blazing, Cook likes to work out the pitch, nurdle a few runs first and he tends builds an innings of some note. I think he has had no choice as the other English batsmen look like rabbits in the headlights!

In his 21 matches as captain he averages over 55 and every other inning he has scored 50 or more, three of these knocks have been converted to triple figures. When he wasn’t captain his average was down to just over 30 in 23 innings, with only four scores over 50.

I know Cook has been in the form of his life over the past two years (somehow I think there is more to come), and sometime the pressure of captaincy has an adverse affect on players form, but in Cook’s case it has done wonders for him, the stats prove this. Now I don’t want to get too excited, Cook has still a lot to learn as an international captain, but progress and experience is being made and gained with every game.

With the World Cup some years away, Cook will no doubt continue as ODI captain until at least that time (he may even become Test captain as Andrew Strauss hasn’t got many more series left in him, which is a shame), and by the time the World Cup starts in 2015 he would have been captain for at least 60 games or even more than that, just think of the experience he would of gained from that. Somehow, I do think the English selectors have that in mind all ready.

Now away from England let’s talk about my least favourite subject (along with Shane Warne’s): training.

When I walk or drive through the car park at the County Ground in Taunton I a beginning to notice quite a few more Somerset players about these days, I even saw Steve ‘Tango’ Kirby out on his mountain bike getting in some extra miles. This tells me that the season is just around the corner and no doubt the training sessions are beginning to intensify some what.

Now with this in mind, all those who use the car park at the County Ground, please be careful as we do not want any unfortunate accidents to the players before the start of the season. I drove past Marcus Trescothick and James Hildreth the other day and I immediately slowed down, stopped my conversation on my mobile and concentrated on missing these two very important players.

Somerset also has players dotted around the globe playing different formats of the game. You have Craig and Jo representing England against Pakistan in the UAE; Pete Trego playing in the Bangladesh Premier League, along with Somerset’s new T20 signing Chris Gayle; in New Zealand Vernon Philander will be representing South Africa in a Test series against the Black Caps.

We mustn’t forget Andy Hurry Somerset’s head coach, as he, along with Jos and Craig, is out in the UAE working alongside England’s head coach Andy Flower; a well earned reward for Andy.

Now back to training, Over Stowey are back in training on Wednesday evening, the first rigorous training session of many I expect. I will probably turn up, but whether I pick up a bat is another matter, it will just be a test to see how unfit I am, think I can answer that now, along with all my Over Stowey colleagues.

Well it is 10.57, time for a keep fit pint of Thatchers cider, and will see you at the County Ground on Wednesday.

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

“My Gran could hit that, with a stick of rhubarb!” to quote a certain cricket commentator called Boycott. I think he was describing England’s batting debacle in the three Test matches against Pakistan.  Enough has been said and written over the past week since defeat in the third Test in Dubai – a series whitewash, the first against Pakistan – so I won’t go over the same stuff, as it does get monotonous.

I, along with many others, want to see England win and perform well and I am one of the last people to criticise the team if they lose. I even refused to jump on the band wagon after the first Test defeat, when others were calling for the head of Andrew Strauss, saying they don’t become bad players overnight and they are not the number one team for nothing. But after this drubbing it is difficult not to, I am resisting however.

The bare fact is England cannot perform with the bat in the sub-continent on slow turning pitches, (ok, Arabia in this case, but the pitch was laid with soil from Karachi). The averages prove this, none of the top six batsmen averaged more than 30, which is unheard off; Matt Prior topped the averages, only thanks to two not out’s, otherwise he would be averaging below 30. Not the stuff of the world’s number one Test team!

Since the match-fixing scandal of 2010 Pakistan, to their credit, have re-grouped, put the troubles behind them, appointed a new captain and have become a strong outfit in Test match cricket. Out of the seven Test series since, Pakistan have won five of them and drawing the other two. Notably, during that period they are yet to lose a Test match at their adopted home of the UAE.

In contrast, the last time England won a Test series on the sub-continent (excluding Bangladesh), was in 2000/01 when they beat Pakistan 1-0, winning the last Test in Karachi in the dark, and they went to Sri Lanka and win the series 2-1 after losing the first Test by an innings.

That tour to Sri Lanka brings back some happy memories for me, as it was one of my first overseas trip to watch England play away, (the first being New Zealand in 1997). I flew into Colombo feeling a bit apprehensive, not because England was already 1-0 down; it was the case I was flying into a country still officially in amidst of a civil war.

I needn’t off worried, it was one of my most enjoyable trips abroad I had; from England winning the Test series, to being harassed by monkeys; from taking my life in my own hands in the back of a tuk tuk to only spending £200 in a month as it was so cheap, (they even doubled the prices for the English!). Anyway, these memories will be for another time in another Sunday Supplement.

England do have the chance to redeem themselves a little as they start the first of five one day internationals on Monday against Pakistan. Now, you may have to excuse me for getting a little bit excited here, as two Somerset players have been picked for the one day squad, Craig Kieswetter and the very promising Jos Buttler.

Jos is a very popular young man down here in Somerset, plus he is a very exciting and talented young cricketer; I know a lot of the locals speak highly of him and are pleased for the lad has earned his one day call up. I will be watching on Monday giving him my whole hearted support, but knowing somewhere in the back of my mind that this could be start of something special for his international career; where it will be England’s gain, it will be Somerset’s loss.

Jos, along with Craig, had a cracking Lions tour to Sri Lanka, both of them dominating with the bat, Jos even had a 56 ball ton! If these two gifted cricketers have a good series against Pakistan I can foresee Somerset may have a problem behind the stumps later in the summer, so stand by Steve Snell, hope you have been looking after yourself during the winter break!

Here are seven things you may already know about Jos Buttler, but I am going to tell you anyway:

1.       He is only 21 years old (that is a boring one I know).

2.       When typing his name both his forename and surname come up on the spell check.

3.       He has his own Wikipedia page.

4.       He once scored a 227 not out in a record opening stand of 340 for Kings College, Taunton.

5.       His opening partner that day was Alex Barrow, who is also in Somerset’s books.

6.       He recently tweeted about the signing of Chris Gayle for the T20 campaign: “Proper signing!!! If Gayle ever holes out to long on at Taunton I’ll eat my hat!!

7.       He is yet to buy me a pint, or a Jagerbomb!

Anyway, back to the subject of looking after yourselves over the winter period. The cricketers from Over Stowey are back in training on the 22^nd February, starting indoor nets at the County Ground. Now I have a dilemma, do I go or don’t I? It may be a bit early to attend these sessions as, even though I am losing weight (lost 8lb in four weeks), I still haven’t recovered my fitness yet.

Also, last season, I played one game, and I worked out that I was 37^th in the pecking order to be selected. Now it seems that the 2^nd team skipper, Carl Woodley, may have some selection problems, as there is an abundance of players available, so I think I will be moving down the pecking order to something like 51^st!

Oh well, more time in the Thatchers cider tent!

Ok, it is now 10.57, time for a pint, diet Thatchers cider of course!