Something for the weekend

Ah, 'tis the weekend at last. Having worked all last weekend apart from New Year's day, I'm looking forward to this one immensely. Chance to wash the cars (boy, do they need it...) and watch some cricket - though not, as I've explained to my wife, necessarily in that order. Two good games on this weekend, with the two Melbourne sides meeting and another chance to watch the gargantuan Gayle on Sunday - and Usman, of course.

Something that has struck me in watching the Big Bash is that there are some teams who seem to overly rely on key players, to the extent that when that player fails one senses a feeling of panic among the remainder. No matter how good, no player can regularly win matches single-handed and I am sure that whoever we get this year will be part of a team effort and need to be for success. Take Leicestershire last year. Sure, Razzaq and MacDonald were the stars, but the competiton would not have been won except for cameos and performances by almost everyone at different stages.

The key is undoubtedly the field. Of course, you need to put a total on the board and bowl accurately, but some of the fielding in the Big Bash has been very poor. Some teams have to hide a few weaker guys, though there's one that only seems to have three people with any mobility. At the end of it all, a good fielding performance can make a difference of 20-30 runs, sufficient to win more games than not.

The observant among you may have noticed I have changed the season countdown timer, which I felt was taking over the page. The first one I liked because it looked kind of like a cricket scoreboard, but it was too big and I wanted something a little less "in your face". It is amazing to think, however, that we are less than three months from the start of it all, with a lot still to be done at the club.

This weekend I also hope to do my first book review of 2012 and I can promise you it is one of the best cricket biographies I have read in recent years.

Watch this space - and have a good one!