Hello again!

After a lightning trip down to Derbyshire to say hello to the folks over Easter, I'm now safely back home and relaxing after a six hour drive today, courtesy of road works on the M62...

I had hoped to get to the County Ground but attempts at play came to naught, with the pitch apparently waterlogged. This, of course, makes the Barbados trip all the more worthwhile, with little chance for any domestic cricket since our return.

Mention of the pitches, of course, reminds me that this was something I overlooked in my pre-season previews. None of us knows how the rotation of the tracks will affect them. I've read stories to the effect that they are likely to be quicker this year, which is no bad thing for batsmen or bowlers, but we don't know how they will play. Ideally, we'd like something akin to Durham have at the Riverside, where a result is always likely and there is help for bowlers and something for a batsman prepared to work for his runs.

Logically, the length of our batting should mean that even if we were five down for less than a hundred at lunch we would still be capable of posting 250-300. If most innings at the County Ground were around that this year our chances of promotion will be all the more positive. Of course, there's a danger that we could fall foul of pitch inspectors, but tracks with a little more help for the bowlers must have been high on John Morris' Christmas list last year.

I'd certainly accept Madsen and Rogers dropping their average to 40 on more sporting tracks. Such circumstances would mean that the likes of Goddard, Peterson and Wagg in the lower order would be of great importance to the batting. I still think that Derbyshire, Sussex and Surrey are the three best sides on paper. Someone on 606 has suggested Northamptonshire as contenders, but I can't see where their wickets will come from.

I saw a terribly sloppy piece of "journalism" in this month's issue of All Out Cricket. I was set to buy it and had a quick look at what they'd said about us. The correspondent, Jim Hindson, said that our weakness would be our lack of quality spin that had not been addressed -this of course despite the signing of Mr Peterson. I hope there's an apology next month - as it was, I put it back on the shelf in disgust. I can take different opinions, but not factual nonsense from people paid to do better. Hindson, a former Nottinghamshire spinner, should really have done better than that.

Finally tonight, I took a walk around Queens Park with the family yesterday and imagined the carnage that Bosman could wreak there this season. Those boundaries look well within his range. It is just a pity that we're not drawn with Middlesex, who today have signed Dave Warner. To see the two of them at their best on the same day would be well worth the price of admission.

Back soon.