Will the Bears be virile in Durham?

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The morning in Durham is cool and grey though without any apparent threat of rain.

Can Warwickshire maintain their amazing start to the season? To do so they must show that they can withstand the demands of a potty bit of fixture-scheduling: Southampton to Chester-le-Street. Throw in Taunton the other week too and already they have more than 1,000 miles under their belts 12 days into the season.

I'm knackered already and I haven't been out there playing! And while of course the players are a lot younger and, in most cases, more virile than me, it is strange preparation for a top-flight sports team.

It's the same for every county of course and, in the circumstances, county cricketers do brilliantly do achieve such high levels of quality and intensity as often as they do. But I wonder what Messrs Ferguson and Wenger would have to say about these demands being foisted on their chaps.