Cricket season's greetings

posted by John Winn

Tomorrow (December 22nd) marks the winter solstice, the day will be one second shorter than today and Friday will be six seconds longer than tomorrow, so by the weekend it will be OK to talk about the days drawing out. More importantly next year's first class English cricket season is now nearer than last, just over fourteen weeks to go. On 31st March 2012 at venues as far apart as Durham and Taunton five university sides will take on county opposition.My aim is to be at Durham where the students' opponents will be Middlesex.If you prefer to travel south then Cambridge MCCU host Essex at Fenner's.To further whet your appetite Durham take on Yorkshire in a two day friendly at Chester le Street beginning on Sunday April 1st.
I appreciate that for our readers there are probably more pressing matters four days before Christmas than the prospect of potentially chilly days spent watching cricket at a latitude of almost 55 degrees north before Easter but it might be worth making the journey north by way of acclimatisation less than a week before the county championship has its earliest ever start. After a couple of hours at The Racecourse or The Riverside Headingley might seem tropical.
The preceding paragraph may have put you in mind of a Michael Palin character in 'Ripping Yarns' for whom rainfall figures were even more interesting than shovels and if the finer points of the solstice are not your bag and you prefer to see out 2011 before worrying about how you might spend Palm Sunday,then I apologise and close by wishing all our readers a Happy Christmas.