THE weary cricketers returning from India this weekend may not feel the same about the start of the cricket season today as Thomas Hood did about the sunshine of his childhood but the remainder of the dedicated band of county professionals, not excluding a certain Marcus Trescothick, would feel the sentiment to be spot on. Some were back in the nets and the gym straight after Christmas, the remainder have been preparing hard since the first day of March and even if many of them have already experienced snow in April, they are still itching for the start of serious competition.

Issues swirl around the game at all levels, none more serious than the present problems involving the 9,000 accredited umpires and scorers without whom the amateur game could not continue, but interest has never been higher, the result largely of the recent success of the England team and the structure that supports them. The ECB reports evidence in all directions: overall advance ticket sales for international games as high as last year; playing membership at clubs increased; still more evidence of school/club links, further encouraged by this week’s announcement of £2.5 million from the National Sports Foundation for the Chance to Shine initiative; and a 600 per cent increase in applications from schools for Kwik Cricket kits.

Even the disaster that has befallen the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers (ACU&S), multiple resignations and a financial crisis created largely by an ambitious former chairman in claiming £117,000 worth of sponsorship for new training equipment that had not been guaranteed, looks likely to have a resolution soon. First the 9,000 members have to ignore the unrealistic commercial aspirations of one group and vote instead to join the new ECB Officials Association.

Frank Kemp, the ECB’s head of operations for non first-class cricket, puts the case sensibly: “There cannot be a case for multiple organisations and the umpires and scorers, like the coaches, really should be part of the governing body. The vast majority will continue to be amateurs and will remain part of a democratic structure able to make the most of 53 years of good work by the ACU&S.”

At the top level, the milch cow, the chances are against the XI who played in the first four Tests of last summer ever taking the field together again. Meanwhile, Australia have been unbeaten in a single Test match all winter, defeating every opponent to cross their path — the Rest of the World, West Indies, South Africa at home and away and now, despite weariness and all the usual Asian pressures, Bangladesh. Enough said.

The bright side of the same coin is the emergence of credible alternatives in all the positions that were at least temporarily vacated. Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Strauss have confirmed their potential as leaders; Alastair Cook as an opening batsman; Owais Shah as a Test No 3; Paul Collingwood, top scorer against Pakistan and India, as a No 5, Monty Panesar, Shaun Udal or Ian Blackwell as spinners; Matthew Prior as wicketkeeper-batsman; James Anderson and Liam Plunkett as fast bowlers.

What the England selectors will hope for most as they travel the county circuit is the emergence of other spin bowlers from what is still largely a bare cupboard and of at least one all-rounder capable of standing in occasionally for Flintoff. Last year 12 cricketers made 750 runs and took 50 wickets in first-class and List A cricket combined, with a minimum of 500 runs and 25 wickets in first-class matches, but of those whose batting average exceeded his bowling, only Flintoff and Graeme Welch, the new captain of Derbyshire, were English. Shane Warne, outstanding for Hampshire as well as for Australia, scored 156 more runs and took 53 more wickets in first-class cricket than Flintoff.

As a batsman if not a bowler, Rikki Clarke still has the potential, at least in the one-day format. What is certain is that someone will have to deputise at some stage this season for the national treasure, who must at all costs be preserved for the top priorities, the Ashes and the World Cup next winter.

The task is to keep all the main players fit and fresh but also to maintain the England team’s momentum in the home series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Clarke will have a chance to impress over the next four days at Lord’s when, among others, Mark Footitt, Nottinghamshire’s promising young left-arm fast bowler, will be playing for MCC against his own county, the champions who hope to reign again under Stephen Fleming. Chris Cairns, who seems to retire about once every six months, is, incidentally, Fleming’s early-season stand-in.

His former New Zealand colleague, Daniel Vettori, will fill the gap still worryingly left by Ashley Giles in Warwickshire’s bowling attack and it would be no great surprise if the widely respected Nick Knight were to mark his last season as a professional by leading Warwickshire to at least one trophy. There are still four to be won in a better balanced season both in international cricket, where there is no longer a triangular one-day tournament, and the county game.

This time only two will be promoted or relegated in what is now the Liverpool Victoria County Championship, which will therefore be even more competitive. There is still no uniform starting day, although more games this year will begin on Tuesdays, many counties having abandoned the hope of attracting big crowds on Saturdays and settled instead for use of hospitality facilities in midweek.

The 50-over Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, in its last season under the present sponsors, has been rejigged as a competition in two leagues of ten, north and south, played in the first part of the season, starting next weekend, but with a traditional end-of-season final at Lord’s on August 26. The mid-season Twenty20 has four commercial sponsors and a new sponsor will be announced this month for the 40-over Pro40 League.

Time and public reaction will tell whether or not the family taste for 40-over matches can be regenerated but there will be no lack of promotion on Sky television, which now, as everyone knows and many fear, has the monopoly of televised cricket.

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