Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

Congratulations must first go to Ireland who have qualified for the T20 World Cup. Beating Namibia in the knock out stages secured their spot in Sri Lanka later in the year. Ireland went on to beat Afghanistan in the final of the tournament by five wickets. This propelled them to eighth in the T20 world rankings, higher than the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who automatically qualified for the World T20 competition. What next for Ireland, Test match status?

Ireland now go into Group B, where they will play against Australia and the West Indies, somehow I think I may be watching those games. Afghanistan, who have also qualified virtue of reaching the final, go into the group which contains India and England, interesting! Incidentally, before the tournament started the Afghans received a good luck message from the Taliban!

Now then, last nights’ bonding session, wow, that was some session. I knew we would be talking absolute rubbish, but I didn’t expect it that early in the evening. The second team skipper reckons that I should be higher up the pecking order for selection, so 42^nd on the list is a lot better than 52^nd I suppose!

It was great to see a lot of people there last night, a nice friendly game of skittles, great curry after and plenty of cider in the bar. Over Stowey’s main sponsors, The Cottage Inn at Keenthorne, done us proud again. It must have been a good night, looking at the amount of cars in the car park this morning.

The name Ricky Ponting has been bounded about the County Ground quite a lot this week, as according to a well known website Somerset are lining up the former Australia captain as their overseas player for the second half of the 2012 season.

Ponting made a big impact during his spell in Taunton in 2004 and has made no secret of his desire to return. He averaged 99 in three Championship matches (with two centuries) and 99.33 in four List A matches (with a century on debut).

What an addition Ponting would make, but does Brian Rose want / need him? As I think we need a bowler for the second part of the season. Anyway, towards the end of the week Ponting’s agent quashed any hopes that he will be playing County Cricket this season at Taunton, when it was announced that Ponting has no plans in playing in England in 2012. So what about 2013 eh?

On the subject of overseas players, a word of caution about Chris Gayle, he is trying to patch up his differences with the West Indian hierarchy wanting to play Test cricket again, and the West Indians tour here in England right on the middle of the domestic T20 season, hmmm.... food for thought!

Somerset had a couple of pre-season friendlies this past week, against Glamorgan and Worcestershire respectively, in a two day 100 over game. Even though Somerset lost the game against Glamorgan (does it really matter), there were tons for Tres and Compo, plus a century for Kies in the game against Worcester. Also Jos had a good knock, unbeaten on 75, with Pete Trego taking wickets it wasn’t a bad week for Somerset.

One noticeable absentee was Lewis Gregory who has been picked for the MCC to take part in the Emirates Airline T20 competition in Dubai, which involves Durham, Surrey, Lancashire and then they will take on the County Champions, Lancashire, in a four day game. Fully deserved, in my opinion, recognition in what a great 2011 he had.

Compo’s Clips are back in force again this week, in the latest episode some free publicity was given to Somerset County Sports and the guys who run the club shop. Now those bats, they look quite tasty, how things have changed over the years with how bats are made, shame I can’t use one. If you haven’t seen any of Compo’s Clips, or you want to have a look at the latest one, well here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/SomersetCricket Enjoy.

On the subject of bats, I do still have my first proper cricket bat, none of these plastic ones which we used to use on beach holidays, I still have my Gray-Nicolls GN100 Scoop Extra Special. It is in absolute pristine condition, the middle has hardly got a scratch on it! Just needs a new grip and it will be perfect for a museum I would expect, as it must be nearly 30 years old by now. Oh happy days using that wand when I was a youngster at Over Stowey.

Anyway a busy week of cricket is ahead, starting on Monday, when England play Sri Lanka in the first Test at Galle, Bopara has a side strain, shame. Early start for me on Monday, watch the start of the first Test before I go to work. I wonder if I will spot former Over Stowey cricketer Nik Kosy in the crowd. Lucky him, but having been to Sri Lanka before I know he will love it, we must compare notes when he gets back.

Plus Somerset have a 40 over game against Surrey on the same day, starting at 12 noon – what time do I finish work on Monday? Then they take on the same opposition on Tuesday in a three day game, oh what a week I’m going to have, not even got to next weekend yet!

Right, 10.57 (ish), time for a cider I think. Back scratcher anyone?

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

The cricketers and officials of Over Stowey are attempting their own bonding session next weekend, something not to be missed. Nothing like the one the Somerset boys done recently, organised by the Royal Marines and took place at Woodbury Park Golf and Country Club and on Woodbury Common, which sounds far too energetic and demanding, plus sleeping out under the stars, what’s that all about?

Nothing like that whatsoever. Stowey will be having their own version of team building, a few beers, a game of skittles, a few more beers, some food, followed by more beer and talking absolute rubbish to one and other, Stowey’s own crucial dynamic in creating a team ethos, (sorry Hildy!). I wonder if I can get my hands on a camcorder before then!

I must admit that I have slept out under the stars before, when walking back from the social club in the middle of the night, after a tough game of cricket and an even tougher post match drinks after, with nothing but an owl hooting for company. Yes those walks home down those country lanes can be a bit tricky, and trips into a hedge sometimes occur; trying to get out can be a bit difficult at two in the morning. I wonder if that owl was hooting or laughing at me!?

On the subject of having a laugh, I see my old friends Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel are out in Sri Lanka as part of the England squad for the two Test series. England have picked four spinners, with Samit being the number four spinner (I hope), surely he has come over to give the England top order some net practice against spin.

As for Ravi; how many more chances? There surely must be a better number six batsman in England, please!!!! This guy has had so many chances, and so many times he has let England down. He has talent, and he will destroy county attacks, but he won’t on the international stage. Graham Gooch having some influence for his Essex buddy?

England won their warm up game quite convincingly, with Cookie scoring a monster load of runs to set up victory. Steven Finn has done himself no harm in pushing for a place in the Test side, but can only see England playing two seamers and two spinners; unfortunately he will miss out again. And Ravi ‘the walking wicket’ Bopara will be coming in at number six!

I do think England will be two strong for the Sri Lankans, but on their own turf it will be very difficult. I will be happy with a 1-0 win for the English and still be at the top of the World Rankings, (good job it rained in New Zealand!).

Has anyone noticed the qualifying tournament for the T20 World Cup? What a healthy bunch of nations competing. 16 teams in the mix and only two spots available, this is sure to be very competitive. So who have we got? Well, in no particular order: Afghanistan, Netherlands, Denmark, Nepal, Namibia, Scotland, Oman, Uganda, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Ireland, Kenya, USA and Italy.

I should imagine Afghanistan and Ireland would be favourites to go through, however Namibia beat Ireland in their first game, so the form book has been turned on its head read from the outset, so what do I know? Shame it is not covered anywhere on television.

Afghanistan and Namibia are top of their respective groups with four games gone, think we are in for a close finish, with Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the Netherlands in hot pursuit. Two of these six nations will miss out for the semi-finals, which will be just painful for them. Anyway, compulsive viewing, Ireland play Scotland next, I think the losers of that game will be going home.

Last week I mentioned about my predicament in what bet I should do on Somerset this season. Well I have had some less than encouraging responses, mainly saying don’t back Somerset as you put the mockers on them, back Surrey instead, as no one wants them to win anything this season.

Well sorry everyone, the bookies will still have my bet, it will still be on Somerset, but I am still unsure whether to do them to win or each way – where’s my confidence? Well Somerset seem to be oozing confidence at the moment from what I can understand, and I also see Vernon Philander took 10 New Zealand wickets to help South Africa to a comfortable win in the second Test – please don’t get injured, and my win patent will be placed soon.

Right, 10.57, time to get rid of my St. Patrick’s Day hangover, phew, what a day, never knew golf could be such thirsty work! See you at the County Ground tomorrow for the first warm up game.

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

This time of year I face a massive dilemma. This particular quandary is cricket related, but nothing like whether I should play again this season, do I need to get a new bat for the woodworm to enjoy, nothing like that. It is how shall I place my bet on Somerset to win things this season?

For the past four seasons I have done various different types of bet on Somerset to win things, usually outright winners. However for 2011, after so many near misses, instead of backing Somerset to win, I done them each way which turned out well, as you know, always the bridesmaid etc…..

So after last year’s each way patent my problem for this year is whether to carry on doing Somerset each way, or will they now go that one step further and actually bring some silverware back to Taunton.

After trawling through various bookmaker websites (plus looking for any indicators for Cheltenham), it is very noticeable that The Cider Boys are highly fancied this season, either favourites or second favourites in all competitions with all bookies.

So let’s have a look at each competition individually and see what will be value for money:

1. The CB40. Somerset are in a tough group, lets make no bones about it. They have to face last year’s winners Surrey, beaten semi-finalist Durham, along with Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Welsh Dragons (WTF? Ok Glamorgan) and Scotland. With only the top team qualifying for the semi-finals, plus the best placed runners-up out of the three groups, this isn’t going to be easy.

With all these teams capable of beating each other (apart from, dare I say it, Scotland), coming top of the group is an absolute must, as I think the best place runner-sup will come from one of the other two groups.

The bookies haven’t a clue who is going to win this one, the odds reflect this. Somerset, along with Surrey are favourites, both at best 8-1.

So what to do about my bet, well, I just don’t know.

2. The FLT20. Clear favourites for this competition, at best 7-2, with Surrey second favourites at 8-1. It is not hardly surprising with firepower Somerset have in their line up, plus a little known West Indian called Chris Gayle. The competition is sometimes a lottery, but that just adds to the excitement, will Somerset win, well the bookies think so. 

3. The County Championship. Will Somerset ever get this monkey of their back? In 2010, they were 8-1 to win the competition, and to be fair, they should off won it. 2011, nearly every pundit and bookmaker made them favourites, and they couldn’t hardly win for toffee in the first part of the season. Lancashire went on to win the Championship thanks to a great April and May.

So what is install for 2012? Vernon Philander. If this guy can take a hatfull of wickets for the first two months of the season while he is here, then I can’t see Somerset losing too many games. He has been taking wickets for fun for South Africa since his debut in November last year against the Aussies, taking 35 Test wickets at 14 a piece; four five wicket hauls plus a 10 wicket haul in just five Tests is not that bad is it? As for his first class record, 297 wickets at just under 20, wow! Let’s hope he can transform this form onto a Taunton track.

The County Championship is going to be a tough one this season, the bookies have made Durham favourites at 4-1, with Somerset second (9-2) and not much between Lancashire (5-1), Warwickshire (6-1), Nottinghamshire (6-1) and Surrey (7-1). So you can see it is going to be close.

Outcome: This is the one all who support, follow, play, used to play, backroom boys and girls, administrators, chief executives, cooks, waiting staff, grounds men, well in fact anyone associated with the Somerset want.

To win just once, that will be enough!

One thing for sure, 2012 will be another rollercoaster season, and at the end of it some silverware would be wonderful. As for my bet, I think I may do a win Patent, or should I do them each way? Anyone want to join in this fun?

As for Cheltenham this week, I think Willie Mullins will have a good one.

Ok, it’s 10.57, time for a Thatchers I think.

Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

On Wednesday of this week one of the finest batsmen ever to grace the game will celebrate his 60th birthday, Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.

What can you say about this man which hasn't been said already? One word for me: phenomenal!

Leading up to his 60th there have been some glowing articles in the papers, magazines and what not, none more so than Tanya Aldred's piece in The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday of last week.

I couldn't of put it better and agree with her more, about his swagger, his physique, how he terrorised bowlers, his trademark shot, always wears his cap; as Tanya said: 'his stage presence was truly extraordinary'. Just a great article.

I have lived in Somerset for nearly all my life, and cricket was always (and still is) part of my early years; learning, enjoying, playing and watching the game. Three names would always come up in conversations back then, Botham, Garner and of course Viv. When batting in the back garden, I always wanted to be Viv, just wish I had an ounce of his talent.

I have been lucky to see Viv bat on many occasion at The County Ground here in Taunton, with a packed house always guaranteed every home Sunday game. As for those cup runs in the late 70's and early 80's, well a home tie would always mean a great and sometimes intimidating atmosphere, a sense of expectation and some wonderful cricket; something I will always treasure.

I shall not bore you with his statistics, as they speak for themselves, especially a Test match average of over 50. However, there are two innings out of so many which stand out for me:

The first was the man-of-the-match performance in the 1979 Gillette Cup Final at Lord's. Viv, coming in at his customary number three slot, hit a superb 117, smashing the ball all round Lord's.

This enabled Somerset to reach a very competitive 269-8 in their allotted overs. This turned out to be 45 runs too many for Northants, as Somerset bowled them out, Joel Garner taking six wickets and Somerset had their first ever piece of silverware.

The second was when he played for the West Indies against England in a one day international at Manchester in 1984.

The West Indies batting line up looked very strong on paper, with Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes and Clive Lloyd in the team along with Viv, but England made a mockery of this  as they reduced the West Indians to 102-7 and then 166-9, a modest total to chase for England was on the cards. However Viv was still there at the crease.

106 runs later the West Indian number eleven, Michael Holding and Viv walked off the pitch, with Viv amassing 189no, out of the West Indian total of 272-9, at more than a run a ball, smashing the ball all over Old Trafford. That standing ovation was fully deserved.

England just never recovered from that and was all out for 168, with Joel ‘Big Bird’ garner taking three wickets for next to nothing.

That must surely have been the greatest one day innings ever.

One more story I heard about Viv was when Somerset were playing a County Championship game against Notts at Trent Bridge, but I don’t know how true this is, but hey-ho it sounds good (and somewhat believable) to me.

Somerset batted first; Brian Rose, Pete Denning and Peter Roebuck were soon back in the pavilion, thanks to the bowling of Richard Hadlee. With Somerset three down with next to nothing on the board, Ian Botham walked to the crease to join the not out batsman Viv. Clive Rice, the Notts captain wanted a more attacking field as he felt Notts could knock over Somerset cheaply. Hadlee wanted none of it, he asked Rice for a more defensive field, with some men on the boundary.

Rice stuck by his guns, had an attacking field and at the close of play both Viv and Beefy walked off Trent Bridge both with a ton apiece next to their names.

After, Rice asked Hadlee why he insisted on having a more defensive field, Hadlee replied: “Well I heard Beefy say to Viv, as he joined him at the crease, ‘I bet I can hit the ball further than you!’” So it seemed, as I am led to believe the ball went all over Nottingham! 

Good news for those who are a player / member of Over Stowey CC, the 2012 tour has been arranged. This year a trip to Sussex staying at Arundel, and will be taking on two Pickard XI’s! Again spaces are limited, so please get hold of Ashley with your deposit.

Stowey stayed in Arundel ten years ago, and had a two match tour of Sussex. Great fun, great hotel and great memories. Who can remember the Yes/No game at dinner one evening; that pour waitress. There was a bit of explaining going on after and a generous tip of course.

Now the latest Compo’s Clips is a must see, now that is what I call training, a walk around the Quantocks, followed by a pub lunch and then a stroll back to Taunton. I never knew being a professional cricket player could be so demanding.

There is a bit more to it than that, but have a look, great viewing. http://www.youtube.com/user/SomersetCricket Cricket can be a Giggle. I must get my own camcorder and do something with Over Stowey! 

Ok, it is now 10.57, time for a Thatchers Cider and raise a glass (or two) for Sir Viv.

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!