WELL the new season got underway last week and with sunshine all morning, following a few days of warmer weather, I was looking forward to being warm at a start of the cricket season for once.

That certainly was the understatement of the day as by tea time extra sweaters were called for, two hot cups of tea were most welcome as the chill began to set in, but it was nice to finally get underway after all the concerns as to whether games would be able to go ahead with all the rain we had had.

This new season is going to be interesting, what with new clubs, new competitions, rule changes, and new colleagues to umpire with.

The winter has been busy for all of us, with new Bolton Cricket League rules to make ourselves familiar with, especially our new colleagues who have joined us from the Bolton Association and new colleagues who have decided to take up the challenge of umpiring instead of playing.

One of the major changes for all of us, is the bowling restrictions in both first and second teams where in the first team only one bowler can bowl more than 15 overs and in second teams no bowler can bowl more than 12. These numbers are reduced if rain interrupts games. Bowlers could find themselves not being able to bowl again because their quota has been used up. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen very often.

I have had plenty of cricket to watch over the winter, the England winter tour and matches involving New Zealand. Our household was certainly divided during the recent T20 World cup semi-final. To be beaten by a fellow countryman Ben Stokes was even more hard to swallow (won't mention the final though).

What is nice to see from my point of view, being from New Zealand, is the influx of New Zealanders playing as overseas players in county cricket, the most recent being Martin Guptill signing for some of Lancashire’s T20 Blast games.

Neil Wagner got off to a good start with 11 wickets in the county’s game against Nottinghamshire. When I first came here in the 1970s there was only one, Glen Turner at Worcester but now there will be 15 New Zealanders playing some form of cricket on the county scene, whether it be championship, or limited overs games.

Even my home town of Masterton has a few players based in local leagues as professional and overseas players, so I will have plenty of interest outside the Bolton League to follow this season. Let’s hope the season is a good one for all concerned.