Something's going on

I was delighted to read today that Yorkshire have agreed to hosting ten days of cricket at Scarborough for each of the next ten years.

As my favourite ground outside of God's own county, I'm delighted to hear that and just hope that we will be playing them there in the not too distant future. Seeing Derbyshire there (and at more Lords finals) is a remaining cricket ambition, having given up on the one where I played for the county...

Sorry to hear about a nasty facial injury sustained by Darren Maddy of Warwickshire in pre-season practice. The all rounder, who missed most of last season, needs surgery and may miss more cricket at the start of the season. I wish him a rapid recovery.

Northamptonshire have made perhaps the most intriguing overseas signing of 2010 with that of Zimbabwean all rounder Elton Chigumbura. Their fans appear unconvinced, though he is perhaps the country's best player after Taibu, a fine wicket-keeper batsman. Time will tell if the signing was inspirational or desperate, though he is of an age where he should have plenty of energy and things to prove.

Northamptonshire's signing of Virender Sehwag for the T20 looked good value today, as he smacked 75 from 34 balls to win the game for the Delhi Daredevils. To be fair, he looked the only player on display as there was some fairly ordinary cricket despite a plethora of big names. The players must have been mithered with all the beasties flying around, but there were some poor shots and ordinary fielding, though Graeme Smith held a fine catch to eventually dismiss Sehwag.

Still no news on our T20 signing, though I am increasingly of the opinion that our greater need is a tight bowler who can score quick runs on occasion. With a long and aggressive batting line up, I would prefer to see someone else who could give us four tight overs along with Robin Peterson. Assuming the batting improvement of last year was sustained, we could then look to do better in the coming season.

Not long now...