As we wrote yesterday, round 3 of the County Championship produced some classic matches, fine individual performances and generally showed that rumours of its imminent death had been greatly exaggerated.
Perhaps not unsurprisingly, trying to whittle down the top performers to an XI is an arduous task to say the least. We could find no place for Zander de Bruyn despite his 172 against Glamorgan, nor Tom Maynard who served his revenge cold against his former county with 123 in the same match.
Spare a thought too for Tony Palladino, whose nine wickets and 44 unbeaten runs from number 11 proved in vain against Middlesex. Gary Keedy and Farveez Maharoof also miss out despite starring for Lancashire in their innings win over Somerset.
Here without further ado is our XI for this week:
Varun Chopra (Warwickshire) – from 409 runs in the whole Championship season in 2010 to a sublime 471 in just two matches this season. A second successive double hundred turned the match around at New Road for Warwickshire. A talent that is finally flourishing.
Alastair Cook (Essex) – the tormentor of the Australians got his season off and running with 155 against Northants - an innings described by Derek Pringle as clean and exhilirating. More of the same against Sri Lanka and India please.
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) – One of our 10 to watch in 2011 ploughed a lone furrow in the 1st innings at Headingley with a magificent 85 (off just 89 balls) in a sorry Notts total of 143, and then repeated the dose with 83 (off 112) second time around to help stun Yorkshire.
Luke Wells (Sussex) – maiden first-class hundred from the 20 year old was the solid backbone of Sussex's impressive chase of 309 to beat Durham (despite a late scare) at Chester-le-Street.
Andrew Gale (Yorkshire) – looked to have secured Yorkshire's complete supremacy against Notts with a brilliant 145 not out. Alas a 193 run 1st innings lead did not prove enough.
Chris Read (Nottinghamshire) – How many times has Read scored runs when Notts were in dire straits? His 86 and partnership of 150 with Steven Mullaney gave his side something to bowl at and led to a stunning comeback win against Yorkshire.
Gareth Berg (Middlesex) – six wickets and a match-winning knock of 80 as Middlesex chased down 328 at Derby
Chaminda Vaas (Northamptonshire) – five for 76 in a first innings of 433 and then hit 96 as Northants wrested back the initiative against Essex at Wantage Road.
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) – a crucial first-innings 47 gave his side at least a few runs to play with before a brilliant performance with the ball saw his six second innings wickets condemn unlucky Worcestershire to defeat at New Road.
Ryan Sidebottom (Yorkshire) - couldn't have done much more to secure a win over his former county with match figures of eight for 97 against Nottinghamshire. Getting into this XI is unlikely to prove much consolation.
Monty Panesar (Sussex) – seven wickets for 144 in 44 controlled overs helped Sussex back into the match twice at Chester-le-Street. Any spinner who takes four wickets on day one of a Championship match at Durham in April deserves automatic selection.
Where next?
County Championship XI of the week #2
County Championship XI of the week #1
Ten to watch in 2011: Adam Lyth, Jade Dernbach, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Samit Patel, Alex Hales, Danny Briggs, Ben Stokes, James Harris, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid
An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright
County Championship Previews - Division 2: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Surrey
County Championship Previews - Division 1: Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Sussex, Somerset, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Hampshire, Durham
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