This past week has been a really interesting one with both the start of the England county cricket and also the much anticipated IPL.  As usual, with the advent of county cricket comes the cold and rain with lots of matches disrupted and lots of sweaters being worn. 

I guess most eyes were on The Oval where Lancashire’s Andrew Flintoff played his first competitive match since his fourth ankle operation at the end of last year.  Freddie came through the match well fitness-wise, managing to get 28 overs under his belt and then scoring 23 when he was required to bat. He looked in reasonable touch with both bat and ball and I’m sure his first few days of cricket will have left him in good heart and also stand him in good stead for the battles ahead.

Lancashire play Somerset from Wednesday where Marcus Trescothick and his Somerset team-mates visit Old Trafford. This will be their first Championship game of the season having played against a University last week.

Michael Vaughan will play his first meaningful match for Yorkshire this week where they host Hampshire, let’s hope the weather holds up and the captain can get some time at the crease under his belt.  Nottinghamshire are the early season pace setters in Division One, as they were the only team to win in the first round of games.  In the Second Division, both Leicestershire and Essex recorded first up victories and I think we are in for a competitive summer of county cricket.

The Indian Premier League started off in grand style at the end of last week when, after a lavish opening ceremony, Brendon McCullum recorded the highest ever score in 20/20 cricket, scoring over 150 at two runs a ball.  It was unbelievable entertainment for the fifty odd thousand sell out crowd –  just what the doctor ordered if you were one of the power brokers of the IPL.

The games over the weekend looked brilliant on TV, the crowds were massive and the best players in the world are putting on a great spectacle.  Let’s hope we can find a way for some of England’s best cricketers to also be able to go and apply their trade in the IPL.  It looks like Setanta may have pulled off a right coup by grabbing the rights to show the IPL for the next five years; I think there will be a lot of cricket subscribers coming their way.

Let’s hope the weather improves this week and we get a full round of four day matches, unlike last week.