Sellsy's Monday Supplement

Joe Root seems to be the man of the moment for England. He is on the tip of everyone’s tongue, always in the headlines and is one of the most popular searches on Cricinfo – I believe they could that “trending” or is that Twitter?

Root has had a fantastic winter, grasping his opportunity in the final Test against India when selected to bat at number six. An unusual position for Root, as he opens the innings for Yorkshire. This didn’t faze him in any shape or form, as he ground out a magnificent half century in the first innings and effectively kill the Test and help England win away in India.

Since then he has been batting magnificently for England both in India and now in New Zealand in the short format of the game. I believe he is the first player in ODI history to score 30 or more in his first six innings, some feat.

Now, there have been calls for Root to take Somerset’s Nick Compton place at the top of the order and open with captain, Alastair Cook. Michael Vaughan, a former Yorkshire player, got the ball rolling some time a go saying that his fellow Yorkshireman should open. Is he being bias to his fellow Tyke? Well he has a case, but surely Somerset’s Compo deserves an extended run in the Test team at the top of the order, as he did no wrong against India.

Well a shootout for selection could take place on Wednesday when England play a New Zealand XI in their only warm-up game. Should be an interesting few days. Incidentally, I say Wednesday but please don’t let the time difference confuse you as it will start Tuesday night here in the UK, a bit like the first Test the following week, in fact all three Tests.

Personally I can’t see why England should change the top seven from the team who played India in the fourth Test in Nagpur with Root going in a number six. At least that sorts that position out and no Samit useless Patel! 

Anyway, enough from me, 6.57, time for skittles and a Thatchers or two!

Sellsy's Monday Supplement (SMS)

Over Stowey are now just a couple of months away from the new cricket season and things are in full swing to get the club ready for the 2013 campaign.

 

First up is a bit of a team building evening, a skittles night on March 16^th, at our favourite haunt, The Cottage Inn. Usual format, a few skittles are knocked over, a few ciders sunk and plenty of food to eat. Somehow golf in the morning sounds a bad idea, especially the 19^th hole!

The next day indoor training starts, now that should be very interesting, especially after what will go on the night before, but we shall see. And after all this team building and practice, the weekend of the 6^th and 7^th April is ground preparation weekend, plus the collection of membership. Somehow me thinks we should collect that at the skittles night when everyone has had a few!

Cricket starts in May, and the Charity / Six-a-side weekend kicks in on the 6^th and 7^th of July. A team from SWP solutions are already shouting about that they will be team to beat. We shall see Arthur and Rabbit!

What other delights does 2013 hold for Over Stowey CC and its members? Well your truly is in the process of designing a new fixture handbook, so watch out for that, it’s costing me a few beers for the guys at work, so I will have my receipts ready to claim back!

And don’t forget in-between Over Stowey and their cricket, Somerset will be playing, in pursuit of their first ever County Championship. With all that is going on at Stowey I may struggle to get to the County Ground (not!).  

Anyway, enough from me, 7.27 and time for a Thatchers!

Sellsy's Monday Supplement

It was nice to see All Out Cricket magazine take my lead and do an article on New Zealand cricket, off course what I wrote last week has no influence on what was written in AOC, but it goes to show what a hot topic of conversation the fall out in NZ cricket is. 

Now I don’t know about you but I was quite enthralled by the latest England match on TV Sunday morning, but it wasn’t the blokes it was the English women. It looked like it was going to be a nail biter, but Katherine Brunt ripped through the lower middle order helping England to win by 30 runs. 

Earlier in the game captain Charlotte Edwards score a magnificent century, which saw her become the highest run-scorer in women’s one day internationals, congratulations to her. 

With this victory the group is wide open, with each of the four sides played two and won one each, so the game against the West Indies is some what crucial on Tuesday morning, ah good job I have a day off! Best of luck to Charlotte and her side, I will most definitely have one eye on the game. 

I looked up some of the ladies on Twitter, Charlotte Edwards was quite to find, and hence I decided to follow her, along with about 16,000 others. Sarah Taylor was a bit difficult, seeing that both Sarah and Taylor are quite common names, but when I found her to my surprise and delight I find out she is an avid Gooner, good for you Sarah. 

Katherine Brunt was quite interesting indeed as somehow I don’t think she is on Twitter as it looks like some poor girls in America is getting mixed with her, quite amusing, it reminds of the Ashes Twitter account which made the headlines back in 2011 when England hammered the Aussies. 

Anyway, that’s enough about that, 6.57, time for skittles and a pint or two of Thatchers!