Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

You can always tell when it is the cricket season, it is raining! Rain, rain, wind and more rain.

Rain has played havoc with Somerset’s season, in fact the whole County Championship season. Somerset looked set for victory over Notts, but the weather was the winner. Plus an intriguing game against Lancashire was disrupted by the weather yet again, even though a certain Lancs supporter called Dan was convinced that Somerset would lose, as he said: “we will bowl Compo and co out for less than 200, make you follow on and knock you over gain!” No chance!

So what to do when it rains at cricket? As a supporter, I find a bar, have a pint or two of Thatchers cider, have a chat with the nearest person and pretend I know something about cricket. There are some great little bars in and around The County Ground, Ring of Bells and The Plough to name just two, plus The Old Pavilion in the ground itself.

As a player of Over Stowey, we would run back to the pavilion for shelter, sit in the dressing room, with the obligatory can of Thatchers, and talk about what time the pub opens! Think you may be getting a theme here! When Alan Prowse played for Stowey, he would reminisce about days gone by, cheered everyone up no end.

Rain has also played havoc with Over Stowey’s pre-season. All friendless have been cancelled, plus getting on the square to prepare for this Saturday’s opening fixture has been impossible. Oh well, we shall see, and it should be an interesting selection meeting on Monday night.

Back to Somerset, Nick Compton has now passed 700 runs for the season, and I think the next best player is some 300 runs behind him, and that is a certain James Hildreth, so he fully deserves his call up to the England Lions squad. From what I can understand is that Compo is fully focused on Somerset, with the Lions call-up a bonus, loving your commitment to Somerset Compo.

With a surname like Compton, having such a famous Grandfather and scoring so many runs, there has been a bit of a media frenzy this past week. A great article in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, and a not so great one in the Mail on Sunday. Now that article in The Daily Telegraph, I wonder where they got their idea from, as if you read last weeks Supplement, I am pretty sure I mentioned about the lack of runs / low scores in the County Championship this season, apart from Compo, it does make me wonder if his Lions call-up was somewhat attributed to last weekends blog!

Does anyone know if Chris Gayle is coming to play for Somerset? There are so many rumours and counter rumours, I do not know what to believe. One thing for sure is that Somerset’s pre-season T20 membership sales increased on the back of the announcement that he was coming to the County Ground, cynical?

Right then, the week ahead: Somerset play their first CB40 game on Friday against Surrey, and it is live on TV. So a visit to the pub may be in order to watch them take revenge, but without Marcus and Tango, it may not be that easy. Then on Saturday, Over Stowey II take to the field in their first league match of the season, when they host North Curry. The cider tent (the boot of my car) will be open, and my birthday celebrations will commence.

Right then, 10.57(ish), time for a walk to the Cottage in the wind and rain, to try one.