Gloucestershire’s first game of the season is only 19 days away - a home match against Derbyshire in the Championship – and the excitement is almost palpable.
Well, not really. But amongst the pessimism (the best that the new issue of the Wisden Cricketer can come up with is ‘likely to remain a work in progress in 2011’) there ARE a few rays of hope.
One is the new overseas player, New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson. Despite sounding like the lead character from a US drama about a friendly serial killer, 20-year-old Williamson is (according to the Wisden Guide to International Cricket 2011) ‘probably the most exciting batting talent New Zealand have unearthed since Martin Crowe in the 1980s’.
Perhaps that’s not the greatest compliment of all time, but it’s not Williamson’s fault that the competition isn’t red hot.
In the club’s press release, John Bracewell says: “Kane will be a great example not only to our younger players but also to some of our more senior batsmen, who are yet to fulfil their potential.”
Skate over the fact that JB is admitting that the club has senior players ‘who are yet to fulfil their potential’ (shouldn’t that disqualify them from being senior players?), Williamson sounds like just the kind of player that Gloucestershire need.
He will feature in all competitions over the season, and will join up with a little-known Sri Lankan off-spinner called Muralitharan in the Twenty20 Cup.
Maybe this season might not be so bad after all…
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