Undoubtedly, the best cricketing news to come out of the south-west this week is the elevation of Marcus Trescothick into the English Test team. 'Banger', as he is affectionately known (due to sausages formerly being his only source of nutrition), will rightfully take his place at the top of the order with Michael Atherton in next week's Old Trafford Test against the West Indies after making a terrific impact in the triangular Natwest series.

Whilst there is always delight and excitement when a team mate 'makes the grade', this one feels extra special. When I arrived to take over Somerset last year, it did not take long to realise what a special talent Marcus was. A naturally powerful striker of the ball, off both front and back foot, an excellent slips catcher and a medium pace bowler with the canny knack of breaking partnerships! However, at the club there was definitely a feeling that he was an underachiever and within the dressing room he did not command the respect that you would expect from the club's vice-captain. He was the butt of many jokes about his weight and diet and seemed content in his own little patch.

During the year he provided the occasional stroke of brilliance but was only a steady performer until a defining moment in a late season home game against Glamorgan. It was played on as fast and bouncy a pitch as I have seen in the UK and Banger scored the most brilliant 167, when nobody else passed 50 for the match. It just so happened that the Glamorgan coach at the time, Duncan Fletcher, was soon to be taking up his new England role - timing is everything in the game of cricket! It was this innings that earned Marcus his spot on England's 'A' tour of Bangladesh and New Zealand and, I think, that allowed him to prove to himself that he could succeed at first-class level.

My how things have changed in 12 months!

The most notable thing when returning this year was how much slimmer Banger had become and how much confidence he portrayed in his everyday body language. The 'Boy from Bristol' had grown up over the winter. He had a glimpse of international cricket and wanted more.

Most importantly his game had also tightened up and he no longer looked like being such a candidate to be caught behind the wicket. And boy was he giving the ball a whack! Just orthodox cricket shots mind. Simple, yet classical, cricket shots.

I have always thought that I was lucky to live in the best country in the world and Marcus is one of the very few that actually argues in favour of the 'Mother Country'. He bleeds red, white and blue and even bought girlfriend Hayley a Union Jack cover for her mobile telephone! He was also one of the very few who cried tears of grief and not tears of laughter when the Poms were beaten by the Kiwis after being one-up in the Test series last year.

In summary - Nasser, Duncan and Grav, you have picked a ripper here, a bloke with all of the qualities for which I'm sure you are looking. Fiercely loyal, very determined, an excellent cricket brain and boy can he play! If his cricket continues to develop at the current rate then Somerset's loss is certain to be Engalnd's gain for many years to come. Who knows, one-day Nasser I reckon he may even be after your job but only after you have had enough of course!

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The biggest difference that the two division system has made to English cricket seems to be in the one-day game. Although I am yet to experience second division Championship cricket, comparing second division one-day cricket of last year to first division of this year is like comparing chalk and cheese.

Every game so far this season has been a tough struggle and the difference in the standards is, I think, best evidenced by the scores. Generally, a typical division two game sees 240 play 230, where in division one, 180 plays 178. Lower scoring and more closely contested.

Last year we went with a pretty simple game plan of putting the opposition in and backing ourselves to score whatever they could get. I had full faith that our dynamic batting line-up could score whatever was set against whoever, wherever and, more often than not, this proved successful as we won many games in a canter this way.

It was, however, a tactic which lost us the NatWest Final last year, a game which gave us an early insight into first division cricket this summer. Importantly, we added Ian Blackwell's left arm orthodox spin (and dynamic batting) as variety and have so far this year defended some pretty small totals to win games.

Our proud record of six wins and three losses to date is a reflection of the steep learning curve of the side and an early glimpse of the form that can hopefully see us win the one-day trophy that barely eluded us last year.

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