I'm writing this as I sit watching the rain come down at a soggy Sophia Gardens.

If I'm frustrated then just spare a thought for the Glamorgan players who have had a thoroughly disjointed start to the season, as illustrated by the complete abandonment of their floodlit match against Essex last Friday. Undercooked doesn't cover the half of it.

This sort of scenario raises all the age-old questions such as: does the season start too early? Should counties go on pre-season tours? To deal with the first - yes, I do think we start the county season too early, and probably finish it too early as well. The weather in late September/early October often seems to be a lot better than it is now in late April.

But I also have sympathy for those who have the unenviable task of scheduling the season. All those competitions. All those counties with special requests. It must be a nightmare.

As for pre-season tours, when I was a player I was obviously very keen on them - who wouldn't want a trip out to the sunshine at that time of year? But I can also see that they are a bit of an extravagance when counties are considering their already tight budgets.

There is also the question of where you go on these trips, because more often than not the facilities are not up to scratch and the opposition poor. The best one I went on was to Pretoria in 1996, but too often the nets we had on pre-season tours would have shamed the smallest of club sides anywhere in the world.

Whatever, Glamorgan will be glad to get some cricket under their belts, especially this week against a severely-depleted Surrey, who have been enduring another poor start to the season just like last year.

I actually tipped them for the Champion-ship this year because I felt that they were an experienced rather than an ageing side. But their glut of injuries so far suggests that I might be wrong on that front. Last week they even lost to the Leeds/Bradford UCCE side, who included Tom Merihalt from St Fagans, a young right handed batsman who has been part of Steve Watkin's Academy set up at Glamorgan.

After a first innings duck he scored a vital second innings half century to help his side to victory - a notable scalp for the students, who, bizarrely, along with Cardiff UCCE, have not been accorded the first class status, which has been given to the other four centres, Cambridge, Oxford, Durham and Loughborough.

But in general it seems that the universities have been putting on some better shows this year, with Oxford last week pushing Derbyshire hard. And we should not forget that Cardiff gave Kent a torrid first day recently, with Luke Sellers (now moved from Chepstow to Panteg) to the fore with his seamers.

Surrey have also been hit by the news that skipper Mark Butcher will be out for longer than expected with his wrist injury. He had hoped to be available from early May but it looks like being a lot later than that now, leaving Mark Ramprakash with the reins at the Oval - the first cricketer to captain both Surrey and Middlesex. If the rain relents sufficiently this week, Glamorgan will definitely fancy their chances of getting their Championship season back on track after the ignominy of their opener against Warwick-shire.

A bit of rugby to finish. It amazes me that some nine years after the advent of professionalism there is still talk about the domestic structure in Wales.

The latest thought is that an Anglo Welsh Cup might be played next season as an extension of the current English Powergen Cup. It sounds like a good idea but I fear that the English clubs will not take it seriously enough. Even though winning their Powergen Cup brings with it automatic European qualification (as long as you stay in the Premiership that is, which is hopefully what this year's winners Leeds will do this weekend) it is still treated with lukewarm interest, a very low third in their priorities behind Europe and the Premiership. Sadly, I cannot see it being any different with the Welsh clubs involved. And if this is going to upset the Irish regions, who at last want to give the Celtic League some credence by deciding their European qualification by it, then why do it?

Wales had their chance not long ago when England offered them four clubs in the Premiership. But Glanmor Griffiths, bless him, wanted nine.

Everyone knows that Anglo/Welsh games will attract big crowds and will offer thrillingly intense rugby, but until they can be played under properly competitive conditions then they will not be worth contemplating.