Even though the two English teams Somerset and Sussex participating in the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 did not really get going it must be said that the competition is a great spectacle bringing together some great names of modern cricket. Interestingly the IPL teams have also failed to make an impact on home soil which must be disappointing for the organisers, however it’s no real surprise that both Australian teams NSW and Victoria are in the semis along with the exciting in form team Trinidad & Tobago and a very competitive Cape Cobras, who are also without their skipper Graeme Smith. It’s great for the game that a West Indian team is performing at the top level with such young flair players as William Perkins, Lendl Simmons and teenage opener Adrian Barath who scored 63 in his first competitive Twenty20 game against the Eagles. With the combined experience of the likes of Rampaul, Ramdin and Bravo lets hope Trinidad go all the way.

Who would have believed England reaching the Champions Trophy semi finals after such a dismal showing in the recent Nat West Series against Australia. In beating potential tournament winners Sri Lanka and South Africa, they must now be backing themselves to go all the way and how ironic it would be if they turn the Aussies over in one of the next two games! The spirit and buzz around the team seemed to be very evident throughout with great credit going to Strauss and Flower for reviving the morale. A near on perfect one day batting performance albeit on a dream batting surface at Centurion Park saw Owais Shah show his true potential, backed up by a typically clever innings from Collingwood. This set the foundation for Eoin Morgan to produce some power hitting as well as his renowned reverse hits. England backed up a formidable total with some great athletic fielding from new boy Denly and Anderson with the latter bowling superbly. Well done boys and keep it going!

Where would district and county age group cricket be without the support of all the parents involved in both time and finance? Dads volunteer their services to both manage and coach teams in a very good district programme within Surrey as an example, which is part of the feeder process for CAG sides from the u9 to u14 age groups. During the eight fixtures over the summer parents will help to score, umpire and pay for qualified umpires in a number of fixtures. The really committed parent coaches & managers will also arrange additional fixtures and coaching sessions during the off season which is brilliant. For county age group fixtures devoted parents will travel up and down the country with a number of Mum’s co-coordinating the other parents to bring a plate of sani’s or cakes for all home fixtures. Across the various counties a lucky number of young cricketers will also have the chance to represent their County in a Festival tour which is a great opportunity, however again it is a big time and financial commitment for many parents. Performance departments within County set ups must obviously be up against it with budgets but I find it is amazing with this being the feeding ground for future first class cricketers that so much funding is positioned at the top end of the game. If more money was invested into the High Performance end of grassroots then maybe we would produce even better home grown players in quantity. The talent is around in abundance!

It’s great to see the sunshine county Hampshire prosper with a convincing win in the Friends Provident Trophy Final over Sussex at Lords. With the likes of Lancashire reject Dominic Cork who must have a wry smile on his face setting up the victory with a superb bowling performance taking four wickets, Dimi Mascarenas who led his team impressively, Nick Pothas the ever reliable professional cricketer, Michael Lumb who is impressing the England selectors and Michael Carberry who Surrey could certainly do with in the top order at the moment. Added to this vast experience Hampshire currently have four players in the England U19 team so they must certainly be doing something right in the development of their young players! Well deserved Hants and good luck in the Twenty20 quarter final.

Although probably the right time it is sad to hear that one of England’s modern day greats Michael Vaughan is retiring from the game at the tender age of 34. At his best he was one of those classical players who all cricket lovers would make sure they did not miss a single ball of an innings. It was in 2002 against the Sri Lankans and Indians that Vaughan really stamped his mark on International cricket with 900 runs in seven Tests followed by 600 runs in the Ashes series in Australia, curtailing the formidable Australia attack and the first visiting batsman in 32 years to top 600 runs. A true nice guy of cricket on and off the field Vaughan’s real moment of glory was leading England to the Ashes in 2005 which was in part down to his brilliant leadership skills. The only down sides to a memorable career was his patchy one day form and a recurring knee injury which curtailed him at his prime. Many will wonder what would have been had this not been the case! I’m sure it will not be the last we see of Vaughan on the Cricket circuit utilising his astute understanding of the game and fantastic communication skills with either a career in coaching or the media.

One undoubted advancement in the game and particularly in the current Twenty20 World Championship is the fielding with amazing catches, diving stops and quickness of thought on the boundary line. The South Africans, Kiwi’s and Sri Lankans have certainly led the way taking the game to yet another level setting the standard for all to follow. With the combination of specialist fielding coaches and supreme fitness levels of top international cricketers the high quality must be attributed to these factors. In fairly recent days gone by you would obviously see some great fielding and in particular slip catches, however the athleticism of the modern cricketer has advance immeasurably.

With Ashes fever excitingly almost upon us England must have a smile on their faces after hearing the Australian selection for the forthcoming series. Australia has surely missed a trick in the non selection of Andrew Symonds who is a fantastic player and genuine match winner well used to conditions in England. As we know Symonds is a multi dimensional player who can bat in an explosive fashion, bowl both useful seamers and tidy off spin which would have certainly come into play on a turning pitch at the Swalec Stadium. Added to this Symonds is an amazing athlete in the field who would get in the face of the opposition in tough situations that will play a big part in the mental battles of an Ashes series. It will be fascinating to see how the two selected all-rounder’s Watson and McDonald perform and we hope as English supporters the Aussies rue their decision!

Watching first class cricket I find it immensely frustrating that county squads have to varying degrees so many imports and kolpak players! This is nothing new and a statement we have heard from many supporters of the game for many years, however if more funding and quality specialist coaching was injected into high performance development from the age of nine onwards there is no doubt in my mind that we would be producing far more skilled cricketers into the top end of the food chain. As it stands with minimal funding compared to the professional game I still see very talented young cricketers across a broad spectrum and cannot understand why we do not produce more quality players in a bigger quantity. One answer is also that maybe some counties throw all there eggs into one basket by only offering their top end high performance coaching to a minimal number of boys at the emerging player and academy level stage. How many talented boys outside of that selection process fall to the wayside with other desires and interests in life at fifteen onwards? My feeling is that some of those boys could potentially be late in physical maturation and late developers mentally! As it stands there is no real safety net for these boys to break through and make a big impact unless they are exceptional!

A question that I often here is do the best players and ex professional cricketers make good coaches? Well I’m sure in many cases that the answer would be yes, however just because of the old adage “been there and done it” does not necessarily mean that you automatically make a good coach! In my view the key to being a good coach is having a good knowledge of the game and great communication skills. Added to that must be a desire to get to know the cricketer as an individual learning about them as a person. From this position the coach can help the player to understand themselves and hopefully get them to where they want to be, with a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses! Therefore coaches who were top players must not be too focused and blinkered on their own abilities as past cricketers!

Friday 3^rd April will see many clubs go into action kicking off the annual NatWest CricketForce with many volunteers undertaking major renovations to clubhouses and grounds. Good luck to all those involved and in particular Ashtead Cricket Club who is the ECB showcase club for 2009. It is amazing to think that 10 years ago Ashtead were on the verge of folding but are now thriving beyond belief with over 300 children involved in the colts section. The showcase day will see England players Monty Panesar, Charlotte Edwards and the Surrey squad rolling up their sleeves to help out!