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!