No sooner have Sammy, Gayle and co shrugged off their World Cup hangovers, the cricketing action has moved on to South Africa and the so-called Champions League. I have to admit that the tournament in Sri Lanka was a breath of fresh air. Nice to see the parallel Women's T20 event sharing the stage, too, with a considerably more excitig finale, too. Unlike the money-grabbing IPL, it was done and dusted inside three weeks. Unlike the CLT20 it was a genuinely open contest and the joy of victory belonged to the West Indian players and not wealthy franchise owners.
The start of the club/franchise tourney has followed with indecent haste but it was good to see the traditional county of Yorkshire get off to a good start over some star-studded Sri Lanka upstarts. Don't get me wrong; I've nothing against Uva Next. Indeed I'd be delighted if someone other than Mumbai, KKR, CSK or Daredevils comes out on top at the end of the month.
I was priveleged to witness David Miller's six-fest at Cardiff several weeks ago and he was again the main man in Yorkshire's innings. Not only did he top-score and hit the winning run but he did so having had to go off injured after being struck on the head by a ball from Umar Gul. The county now has a reasonable chance of qualifying for the main event where the big guns await, even though Jonny Bairstow won't be joining them. Hampshire were the actual champions of the English game so in theory have an even better opportunity of progress. Mind you, Somerset proved the superior home challengers last year despite finishing behind lucky Leicestershire in the Friends Life final.
Whoever wins the CLT20, I for one can't wait for Test cricket to resume. Will Sri Lanka dust themselves off and push up the rankings? Can South Africa sustain the all-round brilliance which took them to number one in the summer and defeat the Aussies next month? And what about the possibility of calypso cricket lighting up the Caribbean once more in a five-Test rubber in Australia next year? Intriguing.
