Posted by Tony Hutton
Good to report that the cricket season is up and running, although the weather is bound to cause some interruptions as the early start enforced upon us by the powers that be means that endless layers of clothing are the first requirement for spectators.
However last Tuesday, by way of introduction, the week started well with the annual Northern Cricket Society Dinner at Sandmoor Golf Club, Leeds. The guest speaker was Warren Hegg, former Lancashire wicketkeeper and captain, resplendent in Lancashire tie and blazer. His enthusiasm for the game and pride in representing his county and briefly his country came across well.
Warren Hegg
He delighted the large attendance with the story of his cricketing career, which started at Stand cricket club and took him to many one day finals at Lord's and a rain delayed first Test appearance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He is a good friend of Darren Gough and brought the house down with his story that Darren could not understand why his sister had three brothers but he only had two! A really good night out.
Next day (Wednesday) should have been a day of cricket at Derby but the home county beset by building works had said that the proposed friendly with Leicester would be played behind closed doors. The game was in fact called off altogether.
So the first cricket did not happen until the following day when the first class season officially got underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham with a game between Warwickshire and Leeds/Bradford University.
Scoreboard ready for action
It is many years since I visited Edgbaston so I was seeing the vast new pavilion for the first time. The sun was shining despite a slightly cool breeze but conditions were almost perfect for the prompt start as Alex Lilley bowled the first ball of the season to
Ian Westwood of Warwickshire, who made a lot of runs at Headingley last season.
First ball of the season
Westwood had opened with Varun Chopra and they progressed steadily against the bowling of Lilley and Moin Ashraf, who has joined the University side this season after his career with Yorkshire came to an end after a succession of injuries. The only other newcomer was Ashley Gowers, a wicketkeeper from Bury, who has played for Lancashire second eleven and is a nephew of John Simpson, the Middlesex wicketkeeper.
Westwood and Chopra took the score along without incident, both reaching the forties together, but then Chopra seemed to slow down and Westwood did most of the scoring. However the appearance of yet another Lancastrian, Liam Watkinson who was being watched by his dad, Mike, eventually saw the fall of the first wicket. Westwood went down the wicket and drove Watkinson straight for four and tried to repeat the shot next ball only to be well stumped by Gowers for 75.
There was then a small cameo appearance by the new Warwickshire captain, Ian Bell, who played a few nice shots before he was bowled by Lilley for 25. Chopra was eventually out for a patient 86 and Johnathan Trott looked in good form with a fairly rapid 47 before he was caught Scott bowled Ogden for 47. Ogden is the third Yorkshire born bowler in the side, coming from Rotherham.
Hain went cheaply but Tim Ambrose played the most entertaining innings of the day with 54 off 67 balls, including five fours and one six. Woakes and Clarke added more quick runs before the declaration came at 350-6 in 85 overs. Watkinson bowled a very long spell of off spin and came in for some punishment before the end to finish with figures of 29-1-132-3. The most economical bowler was Moin Ashraf who although he did not take a wicket only conceeded 41 runs from his 14 overs.
Edgbaston panorama
The sun shone all day and although the University lost a wicket before the close they had performed well against a very strong looking Warwickshire line up who may well challenge Yorkshire this season as they aim for a hat trick of championship wins. The following day we departed to Trent Bridge but again the University did well with Billy Root continuing his prolific form of last season with top score of 62 out of 291-9 declared. Sadly the game was abandoned as a draw on the third day because of rain.
Very impressed with the facilities at Edgbaston and spent most of the day behind glass in the Tom Dollery Members' lounge with full food and drink available all day, cheerful and friendly staff were much in evidence and the whole day was a most enjoyable experience, including the lunchtime walk round Cannon Hill Park across the road.
The Edgbaston pavilion
So Friday at Trent Bridge with a cloudier and colder day driving us indoors after an hour outside in front of the pavilion. This was day two of a friendly between Notts and Leicester. The visitors batted for 60 overs on day one making 259-5 and then Notts made 116-0 in 30 overs. Day two saw Notts batting again and starting a new innings of 60 overs. They made a slow start with Greg Smith making 40 and then the two Taylors, Brendan from Zimbabwe and James from Leicester both made a few not very quickly, but Michael Lumb increased the rate with a good looking 50. Several batsman retired so that everyone got a bat and it was all quite leisurely really.
A varied Leicester attack plugged away but the four seamers did not look dangerous and it was off spinner Naik who took four of the wickets to fall in a final total of 255-5, with four batsmen having retired. Leicester batted again after tea, when we departed, and made 141-3. So all very pleasant without any outstanding performances as players just tried to get back in the groove ahead of sterner tasks to come. As ever Trent Bridge a lovely ground to watch cricket on, brand new yearbooks available, proper scorecards, everything in order.
Another real bonus for me came when I made the acquaintance for the first time of another blogger and tweeter, Backwatersman no less, with whom I have corresponded in the past and enjoyed his very varied contributions to twitter. I was able to recognize him from a photograph which appeared last week showing him with a box of chips at a non league soccer match. The cap and scarf were the giveaways!
