The Reverse Sweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 2 - Yorkshire

In the words of their own Chairman, Yorkshire's players were a bloody disgrace as they were relegated last season. Their woes were compounded when Lancashire finally ended their 77 year long wait for the title.

Strengths

Where do you start? The squad is a seriously good one. Ryan Sidebottom oozes class with the new ball, Tim Bresnan should play a few games, Ajmal Shahzad can surely not endure as poor a season as last nor Adil Rashid. The batting is bristling with talent with Joe Root, Jonathan Bairstow and captain Andrew Gale leading the way. Phil Jacques is an excellent choice as overseas batsman and could do what Jacques Rudolph did for years.

Weaknesses

An unerring ability to shoot themselves in the foot. Expectations will be high so a good start will be necessary to prevent the loss of form and confidence suffered by the likes of Shahzad, Rashid and Adam Lyth last season

Main man

The star of Adil Rashid waned dramatically in 2011, but leg spinners tend to mature like a fine bottle of Chateau Lafitte - it takes time, care and patience. The arrival of Jason Gillespie as coach and the prospect of a long line of quivvering Division 2 batsmen could provide the spur that the 24 year old needs to revive his fortunes.

Look out for

Plenty of quips, barbs and controversy as Geoffrey Boycott takes a turn at being President. The sight of him in the nets with a stick of rhubarb will be one to behold.

Prediction

Champions - far too good for Division 2.

Where next? 

Read our Division 1 previews: Durham, Lancashire, Middlesex, Notts, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire and Worcestershire

Division 2 previews: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Northants and Yorkshire

2011 County Cricket Review: including Heroes of the Season, Best and Worst XIs, and a whole host of other nonsense

County Championship 2011 Preview - Yorkshire

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves gets straight to the point

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

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A Year To Forget: County Championship Flops XI of the season

 
In our column last week for All Out Cricket, we named our County Championship XI of the summer but this only tells half the tale.

Who were the fool guys? Who flattered to deceive? Who had a downright disaster? Who flopped like Waterworld?

Yes, you’ve guessed it a County Championship XI of those who had a year to forget.

Yorkshire fans may want to look away now...

Where next?

Where next?

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Glen Chapple

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: The Tiflex cricket ball

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Marcus Trescothick

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry

County Championship XI of the season

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

County Championship Division 2 XI of the season

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Our 2011 County Cricket players to watch - Who graduated and who didn't?

 
Back at the outset of the season, we named our ten players to look out for (see links at bottom of this piece). We checked their progress halfway through the season (again see links at bottom), but with all the results in and the marking completed, now is the time to announce who graduated and who is going back to school next season.

Graduated with first-class honours

Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) - Championship: 1023 runs at 51.15; CB40: 266 runs at 44.33 SR 120.90; FLt20: 544 runs at 34 SR 146.63

A real breakthrough. Topped the Championship averages for Notts and struck three hundreds in 12 matches. Impressive limited overs form earned him a call-up to the England T20 side. His hit over the top style is reminiscent of a right-handed Marcus Trescothick.

Jade Dernbach (Surrey) - Championship: 22 wickets at 39.63; CB40: 23 wickets at 14.08 ER 4.97; FLt20: 13 wickets at 11.76 ER 6.80

Made his England debut and is already an integral member of the 50 and 20 over sides. The only area for improvement seems to be in the longer version of the game, where his form in the Championship was generally disappointing.

Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey) - Championship: 1039 runs at 37.10; CB40: 372 runs at 28.62 SR 120.77; FLt20: 232 runs at 17.84 SR 128.88

Whilst the stats don't necessarily warrant a first-class award, the Surrey skipper had an impressive year: he took on the added responsibility of opening the batting and finished as the county's second highest run-scorer and led Surrey back into Division 1. The cherry on the top was his 78 off 62 balls in the CB40 final, which meant that the county finally got their hands on some silverware again. Made our County Championship Division 2 XI of the year and was anointed as a County Cricket 2011 hero - which not everyone seems to have agreed with...

Graduated with second-class honours

Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire)  - Championship: 756 runs at 42.00, 31 wickets at 25.74; CB40: 318 runs at 31.80 SR 81.95, 10 wickets at 35.70 ER 5.57; FLt20: 287 runs at 26.09 SR 141.37, 10 wickets at 34 ER 7.23

A solid season for the slightly slimmed down all-rounder, which saw him recalled by England -where he didn't look out of place. Just needs to stay away from the kormas over the winter.

Ben Stokes (Durham) - Championship: 628 runs at 48.30, 17 wickets at 33; CB40: 357 runs at 51 SR 106.56, 9 wickets at 14.22 ER 5.05, FLt20 - Scored 28 in his one match

Injury interrupted his season at the wrong time, but still managed to debut for England's ODI and T20 sides, where he struggled against spin. Clearly has a big future and as shown by his five sixes in an over against Hampshire is an impact cricketer.

Jos Buttler (Somerset) - Championship: 524 runs at 30.82; CB40: 411 runs at 137 SR 133.44; FLt20: 259 runs at 23.54 SR 148

Scintillating performances in the CB40 capped off with a fine but ultimately futile innings in the final at Lord's. Struggled in the Championship for the second successive season. Another to receive an England limited-overs call-up.

James Harris (Glamorgan) - Championship: 44 wickets at 26.95, 403 runs at 28.78; CB40: 9 wickets at 17.33 ER 5.60; FLt20: 3 wickets at 32.66 ER 8.64

Injury marred his season, but Harris certainly showed enough in the Championship that he is a very promising bowling all-rounder.

Scraped a pass

Danny Briggs (Hampshire) - Championship: 38 wickets at 36.65; CB40: 9 wickets at 35.88 ER 5.80; FLt20: 23 wickets at 14.91 ER 6.83

Call-up to the England T20 squad for the two games against West Indies perhaps hid what was a fairly average season despite being given some helpful wickets at the Rose Bowl. Did well in the t20 competition, where he would have learnt a lot from watching Shahid Afridi and Imran Tahir.

Back to school

Adil Rashid (Yorkshire) - Championship: 39 wickets at 43.38, 556 runs at 24.17; CB40: 21 wickets at 20.33 ER 5.33, 124 runs at 31.00 SR 88.57; FLt20: 15 wickets at 27.80 ER 8.17, 50 runs at 6.25 SR 74.62

Despite starting the season with a bang with an 11 wicket haul at Worcester, Rashid took a significant backwards step in 2011 and was overtaken by the likes of Borthwick, Briggs and Patel in the pecking order of English spinners. 2012 will be a big year for the leg-spinner.

Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) - Championship: 553 runs at 26.33; CB40: 314 runs at 28.54, SR 80.51; FLt20: 306 runs at 25.50, SR 114.60

An unmitigated disaster for the leading Division 1 run scorer of 2010. He flopped more dramatically than Kevin Costner's ill-conceived Waterworld movie. It's back to school for the dunce of the class next season. 

Where next?

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

Ten to watch in 2011: Half-Term report - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

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Our 10 County Players to watch in 2011: Half-term report (1 of 3)

 
At the start of the season we named our ten players to watch in 2011, so with the Championship taking a backseat to T20 for the next couple of weeks now seems an apt time to summarise their progress.

See also Part 2 - Jade Dernbach, Adil Rashid and Rory Hamilton-Brown

So in order of ascending performance, here is the first of three posts over the next few days:

10. Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) (Championship: 336 runs at 25.84, CB40: 106 runs at 21.20, SR 71.62)

The most disappointing of our ten thus far. Lyth started 2010 like a train, but the first half of this season has been completely different. A top Championship score of 64 and only two other fifties in 14 innings is a poor return. Especially for a batsman lauded as an England prospect by shrewd judges like Boycott and Vaughan. Lyth’s slide has mirrored that of his county, who are languishing in the bottom three of Division 1.

Verdict: E+ - Will be hoping that T20 sparks a dramatic reversal in fortunes. 

9. Jos Buttler (Somerset) (Championship: 174 runs at 17.40, CB40: 185 runs, no average, SR 138.05)

It has been a season of contrasting fortunes to date for Buttler. In the Championship he has struggled with a top score of 61 in 11 innings. Whilst in the CB40 he is yet to be dismissed in four innings and has smashed two fifties including a belligerent 94 not out off only 56 balls against Notts. Injury to Craig Kieswetter handed him an opportunity to show what he can do with the gloves.

Verdict: D - must improve in the longer form of the game, but if he keeps up his limited overs form could be a long shot for an England call.

8. Danny Briggs (Hampshire) (Championship: 19 wickets at 37.47, CB40: 4 wickets at 50.75, ER 5.69)

Has showed further evidence of his promise in what has been a deeply disappointing season for Hampshire to date with Championship five-fers against Durham and Somerset. Briggs's call-up to the Lions side ahead of Rashid and Panesar showed how high he is rated by the selectors.

Verdict: C- – Will likely fare better on later season wickets in tandem with Imran Tahir now that the latter has returned from injury.

Where next?

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

Jack Hobbs by Leo McKinstry | Book review

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Who should make the England Lions XI to play the Sri Lankans?

 
The England selectors will meet in the coming days to pick their Lions squad to face the Sri Lankan tourists in a game starting on 19th May at Derby.

They will have their work cut out as one of the features of what has been a fascinating start to the County Championship is the number of impressive performances by young English cricketers.

We’ve had a go at naming our XI:

Varun Chopra (Warwickshire) – The former England under-19 captain has started the season like a runaway train and deserves an opportunity to see whether he can flourish against an international bowling attack.

Adam Lyth (Yorkshire) – Whilst the young opener still needs to turn more of his fifties into big hundreds, he is still probably at the head of a queue that also includes Stephen Moore and Jimmy Adams. But for injury Alex Hales and Michael Carberry would also have come into the equation.

James Hildreth (Captain, Somerset) – Has had a bit of a slow start to the season after a phenomenal summer in 2010 and impressive performances for the Lions over the winter, but is still on the shortlist for the vacancy created in the Test side by the retirement of Paul Collingwood.

Ravi Bopara (Essex) – With Eoin Morgan opting for the riches of the IPL, Bopara is Collingwood’s probable replacement in the Test squad. He is running into form with the bat as an unbeaten match-winning ton in his last Championship match Glamorgan testifies. Underrated bowler.

James Taylor (Leicestershire) – Supremely talented and gutsy too, if his batting against a fiery Surrey attack on a lively Oval pitch last week is anything to go by. It is a case of when, not if, Taylor plays Test cricket. Other middle-order batsmen that could come into contention include Samit Patel, Andrew Gale and Ben Stokes.

Craig Kieswetter (Somerset) – It’s a borderline decision between the Somerset keeper and Stephen Davies, but Kieswetter has made the more impressive start to the season. Jonathan Bairstow may also get a mention in dispatches.

Adil Rashid (Yorkshire) – Presumably the selectors know all they need to about Monty Panesar, so the game against Sri Lanka offers another opportunity to take a look at the young Rashid - still the pick of an ever-growing list of young English spinners that also includes Danny Briggs, Scott Borthwick and Simon Kerrigan.

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) – Not many have started the season better than Warwickshire’s bowling all-rounder, who has 24 wickets in the Championship at 18.54 and 262 runs at 52.40. A real candidate for further England honours after demonstrating he had the temperament for international cricket in Australia over the winter.

Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire) – Has now been on the fringes of the England Test, ODI and T20 sides for a while now and deserves his chance to show what he can do against the tourists. Alex Hales’ jaw will vouch that Shahzad has fully recovered from the injury that saw his World Cup curtailed early.

Steve Finn (Middlesex) – With Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad likely to be in a three-way race for two spots in the Test XI, the selectors will probably want to take a look at next cab on the rank Finn in a Lions shirt.

Jade Dernbach (Surrey) – The surprise late call-up to the World Cup looked the real deal against Leicestershire last week and will probably pip the likes of Steve Kirby, Stuart Meaker, James Harris, the returning Graham Onions and 17 year old Reece Topley to the final spot in the XI.

Where next?

County Championship XI of the week #5

Our 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

2010 County XI of the season

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County Cricket Preview - Players to watch: Adam Lyth

 
As we did last year, we’ve been peering into our crystal ball at The Reverse Sweep to identify ten likely cricketers for the 2011 season. We begin below with Adam Lyth of Yorkshire and will publish the other nine over the next two days.

The only selection criteria we have used is that they most be young, England qualified and full of promise – or in the case of one of the ten have something to prove.

As ever we’ve had to leave a plethora of young and talented cricketers off the list. These include Toby Roland-Jones, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonathan Bairstow and Chris Jordan.

Hopefully, our predictions will be as successful as last year when the likes of James Hildreth, Steve Finn, Chris Tremlett, Adil Rashid, Monty Panesar, Chris Woakes, Andrew Gale, James Taylor and Ben Stokes all had good summers.

Adam Lyth

23 year old Lyth had a phenomenal breakthrough year in 2010, topping the Yorkshire averages with 1509 championship runs at 52.03, and is rated highly by the likes of Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan.

2011 could be even better for the left-handed opening batsman if he can convert more scores of 80 and 90 into big hundreds; although he hit three championship tons last year, Lyth also had nine scores between 50 and 99.

With Jacques Rudolph gone, Lyth has a golden opportunity to establish himself as Yorkshire’s main batsman this season, and if he repeats his performance of last summer will move higher on the radar of the England selectors.

Where next?

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

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

2010 County XI of the season

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County Championship Preview - Division 1: Yorkshire

 
The White Rose county are swiftly becoming our second favourite team for their exciting young side and a seemingly endless supply of talented English cricketers. They were in the mix for the title right up until the final round of matches in 2010, before finishing third. Can they climb the final two steps in 2011?

Strengths

One would think that such a young side can only get better. The squad certainly looks well-balanced with a good leader in Andrew Gale and an abundance of talent in the batting ranks with the likes of Gale himself, Adam Lyth, Jonathan Bairstow, Anthony McGrath and the dogged Joe Sayers.

The bowling looks strong also with England stars Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, backed up by the returning Ryan Sidebottom, Steven Pattinson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby. That’s the pace department taken care of and then you have spinners Adil Rashid and the hopefully rehabilitated David Wainwright.

All in all Yorkshire have the look of a side that could go all the way.

Weaknesses

The loss of Jacques Rudolph is massive – whereas as last season the likes of Lyth and Bairstow provided support to Yorkshire’s main batting star, this time they will have to be the ones getting the big hundreds. The talent in the squad means the likes of Bresnan, Shahzad and possibly Rashid and Gale will be called away by England.

Main man

After being messed around a bit by England, Adil Rashid took some time to get started last season but when he did wickets and runs flowed in equal measure. Expect the upward curve to continue in 2011.

Look out for…

A serious tilt at the title and more plaudits for Gale’s captaincy.

Prediction

3rd – If Rudolph was still around then we’d be backing them for the title, but otherwise we expect them to fall a bit short.

Where next?

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Sussex

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Somerset

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Nottinghamshire

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Lancashire

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Hampshire

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Durham

2010 County XI of the season

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

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Our England Ashes and Lions squads for Australia

 
No doubt in between the latest news from Darlington football club and an exclusive from the Blue Square Premier league, England's Ashes squad will be announced on Sky Sports News tomorrow afternoon.

Most pundits have already had a go at picking their squads and it seems an opportune time for us to update the XVII we selected a couple of weeks ago (see Is this how England's Ashes squad should shape up?).

The retirement of Ryan Sidebottom means that we have to change our squad and we've also reconsidered our earlier decision to drop Eoin Morgan from the party in favour of Michael Carberry. Our reasoning that we were worried about the form of Alastair Cook still stands but it would be too harsh on Morgan and in any case Paul Collingwood's form is just as much a concern as Cook's so Carberry can be on hand at the Academy should he be needed.

Talking of the Academy or the Lions or whatever other name they will be called, we have also selected our shadow squad who will be in Australia should injuries or form necessitate changes within the Ashes party. Given what happened in 2002/03 and 2006/07 it will be no bad thing to have additional English cricketers on hand if and likely when the need arises.

Ashes party

As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, the squad pretty much picks itself with the XI from the Pakistan series plus Ian Bell an additional wicket keeper (either Kieswetter or Davies), a second spinner (Panesar, Tredwell or Rashid) and two or three extra seamers (Shahzad, Bresnan and Tremlett).

If reports are to be believed then Davies, Tredwell, Shahzad and Bresnan will make the cut. We've got no problem with Davies, who seems to have supplanted Kieswetter as Prior's deputy or Shahzad, whose pace and ability to reverse the old ball could be a useful option on the dry Australian pitches.

The selection of Tredwell though would surely be a mistake. He is less likely to take a bagful of wickets then Rashid or Panesar, isn't as good with the bat as the young Yorkshire leg spinner and doesn't have the experience in Australian conditions of Monty who did reasonably well on the 2006/07 tour. Two spinners may be required at Adelaide and/or Sydney and Panesar's slow left arm complement to Swann, experience and wicket taking ability would seem to be the best option. Tredwell would likely be cannon fodder to the Australian batsmen.

As for the extra seamers, we stand by our choice of Tremlett ahead of Bresnan. The former has had an excellent season for Surrey (48 championship wickets at 20.18), seems finally free of injuries and is far more suited to Australian wickets than the ineffective Bresnan who to be frank is out of his depth at test level.

With Sidebottom retired, we now go for a squad of XVI rather than one of XVII with our first XI for the Brisbane test in bold:

The Reverse Sweep's Ashes Squad: Strauss (C), Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Finn, Morgan, Davies, Panesar, Tremlett & Shahzad.

The Academy / Lions party

We'd opt for an extended group here with a mixture of reserves for the Ashes squad (Bopara, Carberry, Rashid and Bresnan) and the next generation of England youngsters. We'd also select Simon Jones and Samit Patel. Yes, we know that Jones only played one match for Hampshire this season, but where better to monitor his rehabilitation from a string of injuries then the Academy? It would also be a useful fillip for his confidence. 

We'd also take Patel. Forget the weight issues, Patel should arguably be in the England ODI team for the World Cup ahead of Michael Yardy. The selectors would be able to monitor Patel's progress at the Academy and then make a final decision about his form, fitness, attitude and suitability for a recall based on first-hand evidence. Again our first-choice XI is highlighted in bold.

The Reverse Sweep's Lions/Academy squad: Carberry, Alex Hales, Adam Lyth, James Taylor, Bopara, Andrew Gale (C), James Hildreth, Ben Stokes, Samit Patel, Kieswetter, Jos Buttler, Rashid, Samit Patel, Luke Wright, Bresnan, Chris Woakes, James Harris, Toby Roland-Jones, Simon Jones  

Our County XI of the season

What a finish and how disappointing for Somerset to be the bridesmaids in each of the three domestic competitions. In a season where so much was wrong: the alleged corruption, the elongated FP Twenty 20 tournament and the sidelining of the county championship, the ECB were fortunate that each of its three competitions had a dramatic conclusion.

So with the prizes handed out, it is now time to pick our team of the season, which is based on the championship only given that we didn't really follow the CB 40 until the latter stages and the FP T20 until the finals day.

1. Marcus Trescothick (Captain) (1397 runs at 58.20) - So near but yet so far in his first season as captain as Tresco again showed that he is still the best England qualified batsman in the country in all formats bar none.

2. Adam Lyth (1509 runs at 52.03) - The 22 year old finished as the leading run scorer in Division 1 and particularly in the first half of the season regularly propelled the White Rose county's batting. Just pips Michael Carberry as Trescothick's opening partner.

3. Mark Ramprakash (1595 runs at 61.34) - Just like a vintage Chateau Lafitte, Ramps keeps getting better with age. Once again finished as the leading run scorer in the championship and this wasn't even one of his better seasons with only the five hundreds this time.

4. Jacques Rudolph (1375 runs at 50.92) - South Africa's loss continues to be Yorkshire's gain as Rudolph keeps plundering the runs. Gets into our XI ahead of his county captain Andrew Gale.

5. James Hildreth (1440 runs at 65.45) - A stellar season for the batsman once described by Justin Langer as an "extraordinary talent" with seven hundreds. Must be close to England selection and is likely to tour with the Academy this winter.

6. Chris Read (916 runs at 45.80, 59 catches & 4 stumpings) - Gets the nod ahead of Stephen Davies who also had a good year. Read is still arguably the best keeper in the championship and can always be relied upon for runs. The fact that he managed to successfully captain Notts to the title is testament to his multi-tasking skills.

7. Adil Rashid (732 runs at 45.75, 57 wickets at 31.29) - Took some time to get into the groove with the ball, but then consistently took wickets. His batting continues to impress and surely he can't be ignored by the England selectors for much longer?

8. Chris Woakes (54 wickets at 21.57, 431 runs at 23.94) - A burgeoning all-rounder who had a strong start and end to the season. Could well find himself on the Academy tour this winter.

9. Chris Tremlett (48 wickets at 20.18) - Seemed rejuvenated by his move to The Oval and most importantly stayed injury free. Deserves to be in the Ashes squad where his height, bounce and accuracy could prove a potent weapon.

10. Andre Adams (68 wickets at 22.17) - The leading wicket-taker in the country was one of the prime reasons why Notts scraped their way to the title. A strike rate of 40.2 is phenomenal. Gets in ahead of Gemaal Hussain and James Harris.

11. Monty Panesar (52 wickets at 25.69) - Like Tremlett, Monty was reinvigorated by a change of county and seems to have rediscovered his mojo at Hove. Should be picked for the Ashes squad ahead of Rashid and Tredwell.

An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright

It's been a tremendous week for English cricket. Not only did the England team end its 35 year quest for an ICC limited overs trophy, but several young England qualified players have had shone in the county championship.

In this week alone of England qualified players under the age of 23, Craig Kieswetter was man of the match in the World T20 final whilst Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and Adam Lyth all showed that they are potential England players of the future in matches for Durham, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire respectively.

To emphasise just how strong England's supply of talented under-23's is, we thought it would be fun to select an England under-23 side. This side follows, but when you consider that Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire, 20), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire, 22), Luke Fletcher (Nottinghamshire, 21), Oliver Hannon-Dalby (Yorkshire, 20) and Scott Borthwick (Durham, 20) all miss out it just goes to show the extent of England's resources.

The future looks bright.

1. Adam Lyth (Yorkshire, 22)- Lyth already has 622 first-class runs this season and scored 142 and 93 against Somerset this week. Can the left-hander follow the other great Yorkshire and England openers like Sutcliffe, Boycott and Hutton into the pantheon?

2. Sam Northeast (Kent, 20) - Has had a tough start to the season with Kent after impressing in 2009, but big things are expected of the Harrow educated Kent batsman.

3. Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire, 21) -  Reverse Sweep favourite Hales broke into the Notts side last season and scored an unforgettable 150 in a 40 over match against Worcestershire. Had been biding his time on the sidelines this season but made an instant impression with a composed 136 against Hampshire this week.

4. James Taylor (Leicestershire, 20) - Has faltered a bit this season after a stellar 2009 saw him win two accolades in the Cricket Writers' Club and PCA Young Player of the Year awards, and he wintered with the Lions. Most judges would back pint-sized Taylor to come good though.

5. Ben Stokes (Durham, 18) - Thanks to Sky's coverage of the Kent-Durham match this week, we had the pleasure of watching Stokes confirm the belief that he will play for England in the next few years. His unbeaten hundred in the first innings and rapid 42 not out in the second marks him out as potentially a very special player and he is apparently already on the selectors radar.

6. Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey, 22, Captain)- Is having a tough baptism as Surrey skipper, but we've seen enough quality to suggest that RHB could force his way into the England set-up one day. He certainly doesn't lack fight or fear a challenge.

7. Craig Kieswetter (Somerset, 22) - Yes, he needs to improve his work with the gloves, but England could just find they have their own version of Adam Gilchrist. The fact that he was born in South Africa doesn't worry us. Matt Prior must be extremely worried about his position in the test and one day sides.

8. Adil Rashid (Yorkshire, 22) - Still only 22, Rashid may have lost some confidence thanks to his year of carrying the drinks for England in various parts of the world, but he has plenty of time to hone his leg-spin and live up to the plaudits that have flooded his way over the last few seasons. England need to be patient with him and if they do, England could have a gem on their hands. And he has a first-class batting average of nearly 40 too.

9. Chris Woakes (Warwickshire, 21) - Woakes has impressed with both bat and ball for Warwickshire this season and could quickly emerge as a challenger to Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright for the number seven spot in the Twenty 20 and one day sides.

10. James Harris (Glamorgan, 20) - Burst onto the scene as a seventeen year old when he took seven wickets in an innings in the county championship. Has continued to impress and the fact he was in the Lions team that faced Bangladesh this week shows he is on the selectors radar too.

11. Steve Finn (Middlesex, 21) - The giant quick made a good impression on his test bow in Bangladesh, has started the season well and must have a real chance of going to Australia in the winter. Could he become as good as Steve Harmison? We'll have to wait and see.