By Grockles
August 10 2005

Ian Blackwell leads out Somerset against Yorkshire in about an hour - is he the captain we've been looking for? Well he has a third of a season to show us and we need him to do it right! This game will answer a lot of questions because this is tough oppoosition and we need maximum points.

Bird’s Eye View

Is the search for a captain over?

 

I started watching the boys in the days of Andy Hayhurst and since then we’ve had a few leaders…some false starts and some false dawns, but we’ve never had a long term captain, or even one in waiting.  Simon Ecclestone probably was the closest we had to the latter – probably a real prospect had his career not been cut short by injury.  The contributions of Cox, Bowler, Burns and Ponting (whoops, he wasn’t captain was he – or was he?) were all lacking something.

 

Have we cracked it?  Is Graeme Smith the man to lead us for more than one season?  He certainly looked the part.  Forthright, popular and full of youthful enthusiasm for the challenge – no mean batsman either!  The older followers sometimes moan that we haven’t had a captain since the days of Brian Close and we needed someone to put some boot into some professional buttock flesh following the hard Yorkshireman’s lead.  Smith seems quite capable of that and the way he led from the front at the Oval a couple of weeks ago caused a lot of people to suggest we had finally found our man.  Someone who could turn our bunch of individuals, with oodles of potential, into a coherent and effective unit that could win things together rather than relying on the inspired performance of one of their number every now and again to give us victory.

 

But “Biff” has returned to the bottom of Africa and the season is still in full swing.  He wants to come back it seems, but we then have our captaincy in the hands of the UCBSA – who can change their minds on how long he is here on a whim!  Ricky Ponting has also expressed an interest in returning, would he be available for longer?  Would we have him instead if we compared his performance in 2004 with Smith’s in 2005?  Personally there is no contest for me.  Smith has shown something extra in his time here even though “Punter” would be the most phenomenal player for any county to have and a captain with a great pedigree.

 

Nope, the captain role hasn’t been filled yet…….BUT!!  Maybe we have one in waiting now.  Brian Rose and Graeme Smith have set up two levels of leadership and it is probably there we should look for our future leaders.  Ian Blackwell has been given the captaincy, a surprise to some (especially at the ECB offices I would expect) and a natural progression to others.  The same could probably be said for the appointment of Matt Wood as vice captain, another indication of his coming of age.

 

Ian ought to be looking for a captaincy.  He can certainly lead from the front with the bat and especially with the ball on recent performances.  He may seem a bit of a lad but he also seems to have some steel in his character.  Those who know him well suggest that there is a cricket strategist in that big frame.  He is popular with the fans and his fellow players – it isn’t many unofficial websites that can credit the captain of the side with some of the photos or talk to him on a regular basis on the forum.  His ‘openness’ may be the crucial factor in his leadership.  He can learn from either visiting international and has some time this season to show us all what he has in the top job.  Matt can also watch and learn from his team-mate.  Have we put a long term leadership strategy in place?  We’ll have to wait and see but it seems a step in the right direction to us.