I've now finished my commentary duties until the Ashes. The boss has told me to take it easy and get my knee right, which I'm very grateful for.
Ashar's a star
As mentioned in last week's blog, as President of Accrington CC I promised the players we'd have a BBQ if they won the Lancashire League - and we had a lovely time.
And it's lovely to see the professional, Ashar Zaidi, at this moment playing for the Sussex first team as a non-contract player. He's gone in at number eight and will bowl left-arm spin - but he's actually a batter who bowls. In fact, he just broke the Accrington batting record, which has stood for 54 years.
Hats off to Sussex for taking him because he's the wrong side of 30, but he's a fabulous player who has dedicated himself to his dream of playing first-class cricket. He's played for us for three years, but has also played for anybody else that would have him in that time.
I'm sure he plays cricket through the night because he carts his kit round and plays whenever he can. His dedication is 11/10, he's a terrific bloke and I reckon someone could get a good three years out of him. He's a cut above.
Of course, he didn't come to the BBQ. He was too busy playing for somebody else!
Ship ahoy!
Finally, I've been invited to host a Caribbean cruise.
After the Ashes, there are three one-dayers and three Twenty20 games out in the Caribbean and ITC Sports have asked me to host a cruise around the venues on a very swish boat called the Sea Dream. We're going to have some fun!
I'm absolutely thrilled and I've been brushing up on all my nautical terms. I've not got much experience of boats, but I plan to assist the driver. Left hand down a bit, right hand down a bit... it can't be that hard.
I'm also desperately seeking a parrot. Has anybody got one they can lend me for a couple of weeks? Preferably one that talks: "Pieces of eight" and all that...
And I hope I don't run into my mate in his pedalo while I'm out there!
