More signs of Spring

Posted by John Winn

Five weeks today is April 1st and the first class season will be two days old.League cricket will not follow until three weeks later, which seems rather a long gap but I am very reliably informed that for many leagues the third Saturday in April is the traditional start and this year as it is the 21st it is as late as it can be.
I referred in a posting made last month to Yorkshire's pre-season tour to Barbados where they will be joined by four other first class counties with a practice match beginning on March 15th. Pre-season cricket is not confined to warm climates however, for I note that the dragons of Somerset and Glamorgan will breathe fire over each other at Taunton on March 19th;they may need to to keep warm. At least the daffodils will be in flower.
In a couple of last season's postings I referred to my aim of trying to see each county play all other counties at least once in the county championship, a task which is now more than 80% completed. 2012 has thrown up a bumper crop of the remaining games, 12 in all,but their distribution, both in terms of the calendar and geography means that it will not be possible for me to see more than about 8 of them. April 19th presents the first opportunity when Surrey meet Worcestershire at The Oval. Tickets (at bargain prices)for the train journey are already in my possession, so fingers crossed for fine weather.
One more sign of the season's rapid approach is that I have received the usual request for match ball sponsorshipfrom my local club, Ouseburn CC. Happy to be able to oblige. Defending their title as champions of The Nidderdale League, won for the first time last season, will be hard, especially with Spofforth who defected from The Wetherby League last year now in the top division.
Finally Brian mentioned in his most recent posting that Howard Clayton had been appointed to be scorer for Yorkshire II. This is now reported on the YCCC website and brings to light a remarkable coincidence. I won't say anymore for if you can read this, you can read that, but it is worth a look.