Snow at Hove but sunny Headingley.

posted by John Winn

My local radio station this morning announced that Durham and Yorkshire had warm up matches today ready for the start of the new season next week. Despite an admonitory tweet from this blogger they repeated the mistake in the next bulletin. Today is the start of the first class cricket season with six counties taking on MCCU sides. Warm ups they may be, although that is just about the last thing they are if you take into account today's temperatures, but rightly or wrongly, and most people I know think wrongly, they have first class status and thus mark the start of the season. BBC Tees take note.

A hundred and seventy two days older than when I lost saw any cricket I travelled to Headingley not too worried whether the games were first class or not and in plenty of time to see Leeds/Bradford MCCU take the field well protected against the cold and in front of a decent gathering of the faithful, some hardy enough to sit outside the warmth of the long room. Amongst those who had gathered were many  familiar faces who seemed to have wintered well. Some were even kind enough to say they had enjoyed the winter postings on the blog. There were one or two surprises in store for us; the doubling of the price of scorecards, the unavailability of year books, sold out but more in stock tomorrow but no bigger shock than to find after about twenty minutes of the new season had elapsed Yorkshire had gone from 9 for 0 to 10 for 4 and it looked as though we might get the chance to see the two new signings, Plunkett and Brooks, in action both with bat and possibly ball before lunch.

Bairstow and Ballance mounted a modest recovery but another collapse brought Sidebottom to the wicket at 65 for 7. As on several occasions last season, however Ryan showed how his batting, if not his hairstyle, has improved, and with Ballance he added 156 for the 8th wicket .Ballance was then well supported by Brooks and with extras showing good early season form, the ninth wicket did not fall until 244, as did the tenth.

In the five matches that started today, there was no play at Hove due to rain and snow, the county sides batted first, perhaps this is protocol but in most cases the students appear to have acquitted  themselves quite well for even at Durham where new parent Ben Stokes hit a hundred, the county side had been in trouble at 40 for 3. One suspects that the universities will not find batting easy. The season has started with some cricket grounds under snow, piles of it by the road in some places and with overnight frosts the norm, a bizarre set of conditions and I didn't hear anybody today recall seeing  anything quite like it. Tomorrow presents an opportunity to see some club friendlies and after a call at Knaresborough Forest I will probably go on to New Rover where Wakefiled Thornes provide the opposition.