0 for 0 declared at Taunton

Ladies and gentlemen, the cricket blog will resume in earnest on April 14 at Taunton where everybody involved will be hoping that the season-opener will be a little more productive than it was in 1968 when a rain-ruined affair ended with the strange scores:
Somerset 67 for 3 declared and 107 for 4 declared
Yorkshire 0 for 0 declared and 2 for 0.
Match drawn.

In the days before forfeitures were allowed, when Yorkshire went into bat in their first innings, Geoffrey Boycott faced one ball from Bill Alley before captain Brian Close declared. After a brisk partnership of 65 between Roy Virgin and Greg Chappell on the final afternoon, Yorkshire were set 175 to win and out went Boycott and Phil Sharpe again only for the rain to return after 2.1 overs.

So Boycott started his season with a couple of asterisks - never unwelcome. The fact that Sharpe played out a maiden from Roy Palmer makes you wonder whether they would have gone for the runs anyway.

The match included one leg-bye.