Whilst the international press eagerly devoured the birth of India’s official twenty20 competition and the star names it attracted, the good people of Somerset reacted with horror when their captain, Justin Langer, was signed.

What would this mean? Would he miss the start of the season? The club, in fairness, did it’s best to refute this by claiming Langer would be back in time for the first competitive match. Naturally, with the start of the Indian competition shrouded in some confusion, doubts continued, a jittery position not helped when fellow Aussie Shane Warne opted to miss the start of the county season due to other commitments. Would Langer follow suit?

Thankfully, those fears can now be allayed as JL has confirmed via his BBC Sport diary that he will miss the inaugural season of the IPL:

“Due to my county commitments at Somerset I am unavailable to play in this first year, but I, like everyone else, will be fascinated to see just how big an impact this tournament has.”

The inference being that JL will play in 2009 (especially as he was auctioned off for $200,000) - thus missing part or all of that season for Somerset. 2009, however, is a long way off and there’s the small issue of the County Championship title to win in 2008 first…