Poaching saga adds insult to our 48-all-out injury

It has not been the greatest of weeks for the Hoggard family when it comes to matters sporting. You'll have probably read of Leicestershire's embarrassing 48 all out and maybe heard about one of our best young players being approached by another county, but there's more: Ernie finished second from last in both the sprint and bean bag race at his first ever school sports day.

More of Hoggard Jnr's trials and tribulations a little later, but what I can say here and now is that he had a huge smile on his face throughout. And so did his watching father, which certainly wasn't the case at Grace Road earlier in the week when we were beaten by Northants in two and a bit days.

It hurt a hell of a lot to be rolled over for under 50 and to lose a Championship match to our local rivals by such a big margin. In the first innings we lost five wickets to short, wide balls which we kept slapping down backward point's throat, and then second innings it looked as though we'd never before seen a swinging ball.

So how did I react, as captain, once we were all together in the changing room? Well, quietly because I felt there was no point in ranting, raving and throwing things at the wall. I did say I was embarrassed to go and talk to the media, but I know my feelings were shared by all the players.

If the Northants game was hugely disappointing, and it was, then as far as I'm concerned exactly the same can be said of Warwickshire's approach for James Taylor, our 21-year-old England Lions batsman.

We've had a bit of banter with James in the dressing room, but he has handled himself fantastically well since the approach was made to us. We very much want him to stay and he will be offered an extended contract.

But I don't think everyone comes out of this with credit. The bottom line is that James has another year left on his contract and Warwickshire have come to us with the attitude that because they've got more money to throw around they can take our player away and give us a few sweeties to soften the blow. Well, we want to keep our youngsters, thank you very much.

2. I duck dads' race but Olympian effort by Ernie does family proud

Every cloud has a silver lining and, for me, the bonus of losing to Northants inside three days was that I was able to go to Ratcliffe College for their sports day.

Now, with just under 400 days remaining before the start of the Olympics, I think Ernie Hoggard is perhaps leaving his bid for London selection a little late. But I could not have been more proud of my little lad as he took part in those two races this week. Having said that, I'm not sure I would have been grinning from ear to ear if I'd been collared for the dads' race. Thankfully, I managed to sneak out just before it was run.

3. There's a beard waiting at Grace Road for another Strauss 'transfer'

Andrew Strauss's one-match "transfer" to play for Somerset against India just before the next Test series has caused a fair bit of debate. I don't have a problem with it really, though, and I think Somerset deserve praise for going along with it. Crucially, we are not talking about a Championship game, where points are at stake (although if he fancies joining us for a match against Essex we might be able to arrange a false beard and an alias), but a tour game.

4. Let's hope Samit packs more than a paunch in the one-dayers

Before England take on India they have half a dozen limited-overs matches against Sri Lanka. If Samit Patel plays there's likely to be as much focus on his waistline as his bowling or batting stats.

Patel is a good all-rounder, whose bowling, I reckon, is underrated. England clearly want him so let's hope his figures, rather than his figure, earn all the headlines.