All week people have been talking about the pitch. I was here a couple of weeks ago for Lancashire’s Clydesdale Bank B40 game with Surrey and the wicket was an absolute belter, the best I have seen all year.
Old Trafford’s wickets are always great cricket wickets, and the bowlers will be licking their lips at the thought of the pace and bounce they will get.
But the other topic for hot debate this week has been Lancashire’s new £12m hospitality suite The Point.
It has been getting a bit of stick from the national press, many of whom are seeing it for the first time, but I think it is wonderful. Only us Lancastrians can get away with building a big red box at a cricket ground.
It is bold and brash and says everything about us northerners. I love it.
On the field, I think Mike Watkinson has done a good bit of work brining Nathan McCullum to the club for the Friends Provident t20.
I played golf against his brother Brendon recently and he is so proud of how Nathan has worked hard to improve his game.
I remember playing against Nathan in the Lancashire League a couple of years ago and he is a good lad, but he is ideally suited to Twenty20 because he is a complete all-rounder.
His off-spin is perfect for the game and he can bash it a bit too, and he is certainly no slouch in the field.
He has improved out of sight over the last two years.
I had a wonderful phone call from England boss Andy Flower on Thursday night asking me if I would present Ajmal Shahzad with his first cap yesterday morning.
I was delighted because I know how big an honour it is to receive that accolade and I was so pleased for Ajmal because he is a great lad – despite playing for Yorkshire!
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My fear is that Lancashire overburden themselves with debt to pay for 'The Point' and they don't get awarded future test matches regularly enough to repay the loan. There are no guarantees of a test each year, and The Rose Bowl, Cardiff, Trent Bridge, Chester Le Street, Edgbaston andHeadingley are all going to be competing for a slice of the test match pie. Given that The Oval and Lord's get at least two between them each year, someone is going to be disappointed and financially compromised in the future given the investment that the counties have made in their grounds.
Who will be the first to successfully take up a 'Mind the windows Tino' sledge?
Spot on Bumble, The Point looks fantastic. Had my doubts when I first saw the plans, but not anymore.
And don't bother what our "uptight & close-minded" national press think Bumble. They've made it perfectly clear in the past that they don't like us up here. They seem to regard us as undeserving foreigners, unworthy of hosting test matches. (England starts and ends in London & the South East according to them!) Nobody respects their self-righteously indignant opinions, so just ignore them. They've long since shot their bolt!
Nasser Hussain on Tv had my blood boling first he was slagging the weather off then he was criticising the point he really had not one nice word for for anything at all to do with O/T as test venue.
Yeah, Nasser Hussain seems to hate the place. But he's not alone because apart from the Bumble, I think Ian Botham is the "only" other English commentator who actually tries to stick up for & defend OT. (The overseas pundits all seem to respect OT also. Heck, even the occasional Yorkshireman too!)
Of course we do get that annoying "Manchester rain" up here don't we (according to the media) - whereas delays at Lords & The Oval are "acceptable" and simply due to the quaint vagaries of the English summer weather, aren't they???
I suppose that's just your typical condescending London (& Home Counties) snobbery & contempt for you, I guess!!