Signs of Spring to come

posted by John Winn

The weekend's rapid thaw and subsequent higher temperatures may just have turned your thoughts towards April and the 2013 season and there are a few green shoots to encourage the pcw at this time of the year.

The first class fixtures were of course released well before Christmas, the Minor Counties followed and some counties have now released their second eleven programmes. The enthusiast planning his or her season's watching can now begin to see where awkward clashes are going to arise and think how best to get the quart in to the pint pot without too much spillage. If my calculations are correct East Coast will tomorrow publish fares for travel on April 24th, a date on which I hope to be at The Oval for Surrey v Sussex, one of my listed matches* for this season. Past experience shows that the best bargains are snapped up quickly so I shall not stray far from my laptop tomorrow morning.

Another harbinger of the season has, for the last eight years, been the annual Pennine Cricket Conference and the ninth will be held on Saturday March 23rd 2013 at Golcar CC.. Full details will appear on the blog when they are available In the meantime a couple of other dates for your diary are

Friday February 8th at Pudsey Lawrence CC the Jim the Cat luncheon club will be addressed by Keith Moss MBE, a personal friend of Sir Leonard Hutton and Keith will, I am sure, continue the high standard set by the previous four speakers since the club started in October.

Wednesday February 13th the canine version, Jim the Dog will meet at Todmorden CC, always worth a visit and the most accessible venue for those who like me travel by train from east of The Pennines. Hoping to see a few friends at either or both of these events.

*those of you familiar with my mission to see each first class county play every other first class county at least once in four day cricket may wonder why Surrey v Sussex should remain on the outstanding list (now just twenty), given that I lived in Sussex for almost thirty years and was a regular visitor to Hove, Eastbourne, Horsham etc. The reason is that about five years ago, in a fit of perverseness I decided to make things just a little bit harder by insisting that only championship matches would do and thereby discounting five games I had seen in limited over cricket only. One of these was Surrey v Sussex hence tomorrow's close attention to my inbox. Simple!