What's your county?

County-ism, or…

…do county cricket teams reflect the county’s traits?

Well, it seemed a good idea in outline. Promising even. The notes started pretty well:

YORKSHIRE:

Bowlers: tight.

Batsmen: careful.

Playful fun with Yorkshire-folk’s supposed financial astuteness and the cricketing terms for accurate, hard to score off bowling and slow accumulation of low-risk runs by batters.

From there, though, it wasn’t so easy. Some were a real struggle and many impossible, leaving:

ESSEX: loud and brash but not a big hooped earring in sight.

KENT: agricultural.

SOMERSET: there must be something about cider and Worzels.

Then some inspiration:

SCOTLAND: see Yorkshire (well, it’s a county, at least according to the ECB and entry list for the Yorkshire Bank 40 over competition, are is:)

HOLLAND: technically very, very good but [insert your own cliché about changing rooms unable to disagree, draw a line, and get on with things in a cohesive manner].

AUSTRALIA: not a county, as such. More a (penal) colony (only joking).

WORCESTERSHIRE: saucy.

Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble

I walked the dogs this morning, and listened to Gilad Atzmon’s beautiful, middle eastern jazz album.

The energy and quality are fantastic, a mix of authentic and western instruments, a real and unusual treat.

We’ve got to get bigger cars…

…or cut down on the amount of kit we cart around to cricket. One driver, two passengers, and ten tons of equipment, the back seat and boot almost entirely taken up with…stuff. Some of it cricket-related, and a small proportion of it (if my contribution is anything to go by) actually used.