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.