News at last.

Sadly, yet again today I'm on enforced leave, with the scarily snowy and icy roads pretty much impassable round here. A 10 minute journey from the railway station to my house yesterday took nearly four and a half hours, with those roads still being very poor today.

So here I am, in a cosy living room. Or at least, it would be if the central heating hadn't packed in and the engineer wasn't stuck in snow and all vehicles off the road today. Still, the emergency heater is pleasant and I can't complain too much as there's many worse off.

Anyway, fixtures, I'm reliably informed will be out next week. That's when we can all start to plan what matches we'll get to and start to dream of sunny weather and Derbyshire wins. OK, maybe both is pushing it, so lets settle for overcast conditions and whuppin' the opposition more often than not.

Worcestershire hope to sign Shakib al Hasan for a couple of short periods next summer around his international comitments, while Gloucestershire's John Bracewell has said that he can't afford an overseas player next year, and only has £40,000 to spend on a new player. That might get him his preference, a T20 player, or he could go for a decent county professional for that money. Either way, with the 'out' door creaking from overuse this winter, Bracewell will have his work cut out to make his side competitive next summer.

Recently I suggested that Bristol could be a logical home for Mark Cosgrove, which obviously won't happen now (unless he becomes their T20 specialist of course.) Gloucestershire's erstwhile overseas star James Franklin looks set to join Lancashire, according to reports, while Nottinghamshire hope to confirm David Hussey as their man for 2011. He's given them great service, but may yet fancy a Test call up if the Aussie batting continues to show the fragility that it has thus far in the Ashes.

I still think that John Morris will keep his powder dry for the time being and see what happens in the coming months. There may be considerable fall out from the Ashes, with players becoming available and some being elevated to the international side because of the frailties of others. With Simon Katich now out, Phil Hughes might get another chance, while Marcus North must be very close to being dropped.

While we'd all like to see our man named and start to dream, I'd sooner wait and get the best man possible. There's also a lot of cricket to be played between now and April and we've been down the path of seeing our international star withdraw through injury before - too many times...

Anyway, that's it for the time being. Time to see if I can clear more snow...

See you soon.