Well, the wait is almost over. Today sees the start of the English domestic cricket season, and as a true-blooded, card-carrying Yorkshireman obviously my hopes are with God's own county to bring home some silverware this year.
Yorkshire are the only team not fielding an overseas player this season, so it will be interesting to see what purely home-grown talent can do. And what talent we have! Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shazzad and (briefly) Adil Rashid have all been on full England duty this winter; Rashid helped South Australia to T20 success, and also joined Andrew Gale, Adam Lyth & Jonathan Bairstow on the England Lions' team who were one wicket away from topping the West Indies Domestic 4-day table. And the return of Ryan Sidebottom to Yorkshire colours, after being part of the Championship-winning Notts team last season, will give some experience to the side which has some promising young talent within it.
Probably the biggest threat to Yorkshire this season will be Somerset, who were so close to a clean sweep last season but managed to finish runners-up in all three competitions. Marcus Trescothick continues to produce the goods, and has been ably supported by James Hildreth, who may see himself in England colours this year.
As well as the English domestic season, today also sees the start of the 4th Indian Premier League T20 competition, and thankfully ITV4 are showing live coverage of it. Although T20 is not the 'purest' form of the game, it can at times be highly entertaining, and I'm looking forward to the thrills.
Following from their Ashes success this winter, England will be taking on the two World Cup finalists, India & Sri Lanka in 7 Test matches, 10 ODIs and 2 T20Is. It all promises to be a full and exciting programme of cricket. Let the games begin!
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