Sellsy's Sunday Supplement

Can anyone tell me what a proper hangover is? Jonathan Agnew, during the first Test, mentioned that one of the Barmy Army sent him a Tweet about how hot it is on the ramparts of the fort overlooking the ground at Galle and that she has one of these, a proper hangover. In which Agers replied “compared to what?”

If you want to see a proper hangover you need look no further than Over Stowey’s finest, Mark Sortwell. He is an absolute connoisseur of hangovers; sometimes you won’t see him for days after having one or two after a game of cricket. It is also rumoured that trying to eat a Sunday lunch, after a tough days’ cricket the day before, is a bit of a chore, his one and first sprout results in a trip to the bathroom.

My greatest memory of Mark having a proper hangover is the day after the 2001 C&G Cup Final at Lord’s, where Somerset beat Leicestershire in the final – “We want Boswell!” All Somerset fans know that Somerset won that day, quite comfortably. Stefan Jones takes the final wicket - let the party begin.

Luckily our hotel was a five minute walk from Lord’s, so after the celebrations of seeing Somerset lift the trophy, a short and fast trip back to the hotel and the hotel bar was the first (and in my case the last) stop. Drinking all day, celebrating all night, plus England beat a certain side 5-1 in football, wow, did the alcohol flow – that poor Slovenian girl behind the bar, I don’t think she knew what hit her.

Now the next day was very interesting, the eyes at breakfast were a sight to behold, as for Mark, well, death warmed up was an under statement. Now for the journey back to Somerset.

Jim Hatt drove back that morning, luckily I had the passenger seat, but poor old Gareth Duddridge and Steve Easden had the pleasure of Mark’s company in the back seats. We barely left Marylebone and we had our first unscheduled stop. There were at least three more stops on the way home, and one stage I wondered he was still alive, he was very white!

Did anyone really believe England would chase down 340 to win the first Test against Sri Lanka? History was well against them, plus England’s batting has been less than adequate throughout the winter, losing was never in doubt.

If they did pull it off I would have been one of the first people to pop open a bottle of Thatchers in celebration, and believe me I wanted England to do it, it was a very mighty ask indeed.

Perhaps they should be getting the basics right, i.e. catching and not bowling no-balls and then perhaps a run chase of 200 would have been more realistic. One of the prime culprits, Stuart Broad, is now on his way home. I have no doubt he is a talented player, however his temperament lets him down. Trying to claim a run out when the ball was clearly dead after he over stepped made him look just plain stupid. Get the basics right and make things easy for yourself. Plus did Samit Patel play in that Test, I know he was picked, did he actually turn up?

Somerset’s season is now in full flow, currently playing Cardiff University at Taunton Vale CC. The first County Championship is on Thursday with Middlesex the visitors to the County Ground. No doubt I will be in and out of the Old Pavilion doing some quality control checks on the cider.

Somerset had a good week beating Surrey in a forty over game on Monday and then thumping the same opposition in a three day game. With all the top batsmen in the runs (apart from Arul), and with the bowlers finding their length and line, all is looking promising for my bet.

Vernon Philander flies in next week, Lewis Gregory will be back from his trip with the MCC in Dubai and George Dockrell has staked his claim for a start on Thursday by taking six Surrey wickets in the week, am I starting to feel optimistic? It is Somerset you know, the runners-up of everything over the past three seasons. Hit the round running boys and let’s have a spectacular season.

Previews and predictions are always good fun at the start of the season, and let’s turn the clock back 12 months ago. Nearly everyone then predicted Somerset would break their duck and win the County Championship in 2011, and it seemed no one saw Lancashire as any type of threat, experts eh? Now 12 months on, it seems that all those so called experts have got into bed with Surrey and it will be they who win everything.

Division One of the County Championship is the strongest I have ever seen it, not only Somerset and Surrey, we have Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Durham, Sussex, Middlesex and the champions Lancashire All are very strong and will be knocking on the door to be County Champions. No disrespect to Worcestershire, but how did you stay up?

Oh well, we shall see I suppose. I’ll see you on either Gimlett’s Hill or in the Old Pavilion on Thursday and we will see how things go. Rollercoaster!

It is now 10.57, time for a trip to The Cottage Inn, Keenthorne (that will keep Over Stowey’s main sponsor happy) to try a few Thatchers (another sponsor perhaps?)!