The Reverse Sweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 1 - Nottinghamshire

The 2010 Champions had a disappointing defence of their title last season. Can they challenge again in 2012?

Strengths

James Taylor, Adam Voges and Michael Lumb have arrived to supplement what now looks a very strong batting line-up that also features Alex Hales, Samit Patel and skipper Chris Read. Andre Adams continues to lead the line and will be looking to repeat his success of 2010 (68 Championship wickets) and 2011 (67). 

Weaknesses

The bowling is over-reliant on Adams a situation likely to be exacerbated by Darren Pattinson missing the first two months of the season. International call-ups have permanently deprived Notts of Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, and Patel, Hales and Taylor could all join them this coming season.

Main man

Of all the young batsmen jostling for position as next man in to the Test side, James Taylor looks to be the most likely to force his way in. A big debut season following his arrival from Leicestershire could help him do that sooner rather than later.

Look out for

Chris Read's heroics with the bat. We've lost count of the number of times he has saved his side.

Prediction

6th - Stronger bowling attacks may successfully raid a helpful Trent Bridge wicket too often for this to be anything but a season of struggle for the champions of two years ago. 

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 - Nottinghamshire 

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

England, the Lions, a treacherous banana skin and a Buttler

As potential banana skins go, tomorrow’s 50 over warm-up match between England and the Lions is a particularly slippery one surrounded by a cricket square sized area of treacherous black ice that is invisible to the naked eye.

On the one hand you have a team mostly coming in on the back of a chastening 3-0 Test series whitewash trying to immediately adjust to the 50 over game. Either that or in the case of Ravi Bopara for example, having spent the last three weeks carrying drinks.

Whilst on the other you have a young side fresh from winning a series 3-2 against Sri Lanka A who have done nothing but play limited over cricket in Asia for the past few weeks.

When you also factor in that individuals like Jos Buttler and Jonathan Bairstow will be eager to impress coach Andy Flower in order to get the nod for the ODI series with Pakistan and others like Joe Root and Alex Hales will be striving to show that they are ready for a call-up to the first choice squad, it’s not difficult to see what is perhaps more than likely going to happen.

A couple of years ago, strong performances from Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb for the Lions against the senior squad propelled them into England’s T20 side for the victorious World Cup campaign in the Caribbean.

Who will be the big noise this time? We’re going to go for the safest of bets and predict that Buttler, a man who scored two centuries in the aforementioned trip to Sri Lanka and who averages 70.57 in List A games with a strike rate of 128. That’s pretty decent.

Flower and the senior squad are probably relieved that it is Pakistan and not they who are Afghanistan’s opposition in their first ODI tomorrow. Either way the senior side are likely to be up the Khyber come the end of proceedings tomorrow.

Where next?

How good are this England cricket team?

India v England ODI series: England marks out of 10

Pakistan vs England - England series marks out of 10

England's tale of woe against spin in Asia

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

The Reverse Sweep's County Cricket 2011 Awards

 
The last post of our 2011 County Cricket Review sees the prizes (and wooden spoons) handed out:

Best Team

Surrey won promotion to Division 1 and lifted the CB40, whilst Worcestershire defied the odds and the loss of their first six games to stay up - ditching the yo-yo tag into the process, but Lancashire have to take this for finally breaking their 77 year duck. They may have not had the strongest side on paper, but they did where it counted - on the pitch.

See also: 10 reasons why neutrals should be glad Lancashire won the County Championship

Worst Team

Leicestershire may have finished bottom of Division 2 by some distance, but they did give Paul Nixon a fitting send-off by lifting the FLt20, so this award has to go to Yorkshire, who in the words of their own chairman were 'a bloody disgrace'.

See also: Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves gets straight to the point

Best Player

With due deference to Glen Chapple and Marcus Trescothick, this award has to go to the unheralded Will Gidman for becoming the first English qualified player since David Capel in 1989 to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 50 wickets. So why didn't he receive a call-up to any of England's winter performance squads? No, we don't know either.  

Best Batsman

Marcus Trescothick, who scored nearly 300 Championship runs more than any other batsman despite missing his side's last three matches. Tres ought to almost receive a handicap such is his total dominance of county bowlers.

See also County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Marcus Trescothick

Best Bowler

93 Championship wickets is impossible to argue with even with the supposed advantage of having a Tiflex cricket ball in your hand, so David Masters pips Alan Richardson (Worcestershire's saviour), Chapple, Kyle Hogg and Tim Murtagh for this honour.

Best Spinner

Gary Keedy may not have received as many plaudits as old Long John Silver himself, Glen Chapple, but his contribution of 61 wickets at under 24 was just as crucial to Lancashire's title success, and enables him to pip Monty Panesar and team-mate Simon Kerrigan for this prize.

Best Cameo

Shivnarine Chanderpaul looked to have this one sown up until Warwickshire failed to secure victory at the Rose Bowl on the final day, so Pragyan Ojha steals this prize for a stunning four match cameo with Surrey. Four wins, 24 wickets at 13 and promotion back to Division 2. And the Indian selectors picked Amit Mishra above him?

Worst Player

South African bowlers didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with Friedel de Wet and Wayne Parnell struggling for Hampshire and Sussex respectively, but Lonwabo Tsotsobe took the biscuit here. Five wickets in three first-clas matches at 77 and a broadside via Twitter prompted Essex coach Paul Grayson to describe him as 'downright rude'. Thanks to @ianashworth for reminding us about this one.

Best Temporary Home

Unquestionably Aigburth. How many times have Lancashire been foiled by the Manchester weather and Old Trafford pitch? A temporary move along the M62 to the sunshine coast of Liverpool and voila, a first title for 77 years. Liverpool 1 Manchester 0.

Let them catch the next bouquet

Surely it's time perenniel bridesmaids Somerset got hitched? Runners-up finishes in the FLt20 and CB40 meant it five second places out of the last six domestic prizes to be awarded leads one to speculate that Somerset would probably finish second in a one horse race.

The Devon Loch honorary Award

At one time it looked like this would go to one of the four title chasing protagonists in Division 1, but by the end of the season there was only one candidate for this award. Northamptonshire looked absolute certainties for promotion to Division 1, but only managed to win one of their last seven matches. They fared no better in the CB40 where despite winning their first five matches, they failed to reach the semi-finals. Did Andrew Hall's South African background obviously had an unexpected choking effect on his charges?

Best Youngster

Mentions to Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes and Alex Hales, but this one has to go to Jonathan Bairstow. He stood tall in the manure that was Yorkshire's season and his blistering one day debut innings was the delicious cherry on the top.

Best Resurrection

Only one possible winner here - Michael Carberry, whose return from a debilitating illness was the most uplifting story of the summer.

See County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry

Biggest Moan

The demise of the Tiflex was disappointing, but the ridiculous fixture schedule has to take the wooden spoon here. For example, Leicestershire finished a championship match on the Thursday, won the FLt20 on the Saturday, played the Indian tourists on the Monday and then started another Championship game against Middlesex on the Tuesday. It is hardly surprising that Middlesex ended the first day on 370 for 1.

Biggest Anti-Climax

Sachin Tendulkar's hundredth international hundred anyone?

Where next?

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

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: The Tiflex cricket ball

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

County Championship Division 2 XI of the season

Read all of our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

Read all our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

 
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) - 1673 runs at 79.66: Scored 300 runs more than any other batsman despite missing his side's last three games and has once and for all usurped Mark Ramprakash as the premier batsman in domestic cricket. Agonisingly fell just 22 runs short of achieving the Holy Grail of a 1,000 runs before the end of May. Smashed six hundreds including one in each innings against Yorkshire in May.

Stephen Moore (Lancashire) - 1013 runs at 40.52: Others scored more runs (principally Alex Hales with 1023 runs at 51.15 from just 12 Championship matches), but Moore's knack of making vital contributions at critical times played a leading role in Lancashire's title success. His unbeaten 124 anchored his side in a stiff run chase at Trent Bridge, his 169 not out against Hampshire set up a crucial last gasp win in the penultimate round of matches and the former Worcestershire batsman finished off with 71 from 55 to spur the charge to victory on a tumultuous final day at Taunton.

Michael Carberry (Hampshire) - 793 runs at 56.64: His successful comeback from a life-threatening debilitating illness was one of the feelgood stories of the summer. Three splendid hundreds in nine games included a career best 300 not out against Yorkshire and a hundred on the final day of the season to help deny Warwickshire the title. Carberry's return coincided with Hampshire's revival but came too late to save them from relegation.

Murray Goodwin (Sussex) - 1372 runs at 52.76: Zimbabwe's loss was yet again Sussex's gain as Goodwin anchored a steady return to Division 1 for the county he helped inspire to three titles in the noughties. Four hundreds were topped by his 274 against Division 1 whipping boys Yorkshire. Gets into our XI ahead of Vikram Solanki (1148 runs at 42.51) who performed a similar role as Worcestershire defied the odds to stay up with Sussex. 

Dale Benkenstein (Durham) - 1353 runs at 61.50: Durham's title charge may have spluttered, but Benkenstein was consistency personified with 13 scores of 50 (including four hundreds) or more from 26 innings to once again prove that he is definitely not a mercenary.

Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire) - 1015 runs at 46.13: Having finally removed the monkey from his back in reaching his maiden ton in his 59th first-class innings (and promptly turning it into a double), the sublime Bairstow didn't look back. An impressive season culminated in a stunning ODI debut at Cardiff and Bairstow should clearly be exonerated from the ire heaped on his team-mates by Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves after their ignominious relegation. Scores his runs quickly as a Championship strike rate of a touch under 70 ably demonstrates and looks to have the talent and nerve to forge an international career as a specialist batsman. 

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) - 56 wickets at 21.78; 579 runs at 48.25: Injury may have restricted him to 11 matches, but that did not lessen the impact he made with both bat and ball, as well as the huge influence he had on Warwickshire's title challenge. His performance with the ball was particularly telling and a strike rate of 43.5 is indicative of the regularity with which he struck. Pips team-mate Rikki Clarke as well as Samit Patel, Ben Stokes and Ian Blackwell to the all-rounder's spot in our XI.

Andre Adams (Nottinghamshire) - 67 wickets at 22.61; 551 runs at 23.95: Last year's champions may have faltered badly in their attempt to retain their crown, but that wasn't down to 2010's leading wicket-taker Adams who was once again outstanding and pips Alan Richardson (the leading wicket-taker in Division 1 with 73 wickets at 24.42), Boyd Rankin and Ryan Sidebottom as the third seamer in our XI. Adams also added vital ballast to the lower order with five fifties and a strike rate of 100.

Glen Chapple (Lancashire, Captain) - 55 wickets at 19.81; 365 runs at 19.21: Despite battling leg problems all season, the lion-hearted Chapple battled on to inspire his troops and write his name in Lancashire folklore. Delivered time and time again with the ball - no more so than in the final game at Taunton where he took three 2nd innings wickets despite a bad hamstring tear - and also added useful late order runs. Clearly, a man you would want in the trenches with you, Chapple epitomised the spirit and togetherness that took Lancashire to the promised land after 77 long years in the Championship wilderness. And Yorkshire fans, he was born in Skipton...

Kyle Hogg (Lancashire) - 50 wickets at 18.80; 365 runs at 21.47: Started the season late but immediately made up for lost time with an 11 wicket haul at the Rose Bowl and ended up with a half-century of wickets at a phenomenal strike rate of a wicket every 37 balls - the best by far of anyone with more than 10 wickets. Also contributed several useful cameos with the bat.

Gary Keedy (Lancashire) - 61 wickets at 23.63: With Chapple and Hogg plundering wickets at one end, the experienced Keedy waded in at the other with 61 priceless wickets. His success rubbed off on his spin twin and likely successor Simon Kerrigan. Keedy is the slow bowling option in our XI ahead of Monty Panesar who may have taken more wickets (69), but did so at a higher average and ten balls more per wicket.

Where next?

10 reasons why neutrals should be glad Lancashire won the County Championship

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

County Championship XI of the week: Division 1 Half-Term XI

County Championship XI of the week: Division 2 Half-Term XI

Read our 2011 County Championship XIs of the week

Read all our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #18

Stephen Moore (Lancashire) - Beautifully timed unbeaten 169 (off 230 balls) to set up Lancashire's pre-lunch declaration on the final day of their must-win game against Hampshire.

Ian Westwood (Warwickshire) - Solid 171 laid the foundations for victory over Nottinghamshire as Warwickshire took the top spot in Division 1 for the first time this season.

Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) - The lone star for last year's champions with 72 (out of 238) before carrying his bat for 106 (out of 222) in the innings defeat to rampaging Warwickshire. 

Joe Denly (Kent) - On a week where opening batsman shined, the newly resurgent Denly's career best 199 and second innings 68 were still not enough to save Kent from defeat against Derbyshire.

Jim Troughton (Warwickshire) - The skipper picked an opportune time to score his first Championship ton for 25 months to pip the likes of Zander de Bruyn and Will Durston for a spot in this week's XI.

Sean Ervine (Hampshire) - Nearly denied Lancashire with an uncharacteristically watchful three hour vigil for a first-innings 128 and also picked up three wickets.

John Simpson (Middlesex) - The promising wicketkeeper-batsman impressed again with 95 in Middlesex's rain affected encounter with Glamorgan.

Rikki Clarke (Warwickshire) - Took his season's tally to 45 wickets, but it was his barnstorming 126 (from just 101 balls) that caught the eye at Edgbaston and nearly ruined our casserole.

Ryan Sidebottom (Yorkshire) - Ensured Yorkshire at least went down fighting and ended their disappointing season with a win by taking 11 for 98 - including a second innings seven for 37 - against Somerset.

Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire) - It may not have been Old Trafford, but Kerrigan's convincing take on Jim Laker kept Lancashire in the title hunt at Liverpool. The final wicket of his nine for 51 (and match haul of 12 wickets) came just in the nick of time.

David Balcombe (Kent) - The on-loan paceman took his tally to 33 wickets in just five matches with nine against Derbyshire.

12th man: Chris Jordan (Surrey) - We don't normally select a 12th man, but we'll make an exception this week. Jordan hit two career bests with the bat - following up his 1st innings 71 with an unbeaten 79 second time around. He then got a career best with the ball too as Surrey's promotion charge gathered further momentum.

Where next?

Our Top 20 Cricket Blogs

Cricket XIs: Cricketing Criminals

Read all our County Cricket coverage

See if you agree with our other County Championship XIs of the week

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #16

Circumstances have dictated that we haven't been able to post a County XI of the week for the last few rounds of games, so without further ado...

Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) - A great week for one of our ten to watch in 2011. In a tight match with Durham, his 115 (only one other player from either side passed 50 in the 1st innings) set up a win for the reigning champions - much to the delight of Lancashire supporters. A good week for Hales was capped off with a call-up to the England T20 squad for next week's match with India.

Rob Newton (Northamptonshire) - The young opener struck a composed century against title rivals Middlesex at Wantage Road.

Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire) - On a treacherous Rose Bowl surface where only one other batsman scored a fifty, Solanki's patient 79 not out looked to have given his side a decisive advantage in the basement battle until the rain gods and some suspect covers cruelly intervened on the final day.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Warwickshire) - Memories of his lacklustre debut against Hampshire the week before were quickly forgotten as a typically epic seven hour and twenty minute 193 set up the title challengers for an emphatic win over Yorkshire.

Dawid Malan (Middlesex) - Stroked a brilliant ton to put Middlesex in control of the top of the table clash with Northamptonshire - alas rain washed out the final day.

Steve Davies (Surrey) - England's forgotten man opened the batting and helped Surrey to a comfortable win at Grace Road with a 1st innings 121.

Keith Barker (Warwickshire) - Put in a fine all-round performance with four wickets in each innings and 85 with the bat to ensure that even with the absence of Woakes, Clarke and Rankin Warwickshire's title charge continued.

Andre Adams (Nottinghamshire) - Another to enjoy success with bat and ball as three wickets in each innings and a characteristically agressive second innings fifty helped derail Durham's title hopes at Trent Bridge.

Tim Linley (Surrey) - Excellent season continued with career best match figures of nine for 79 to help Surrey storm back into contention for promotion from Division 2.

Imran Tahir (Hampshire) - The pitch at the Rose Bowl may have offered him considerable assistance but there was no doubting Tahir's quality as he ripped through Worcestershire with five for 29.

Chris Wright (Warwickshire) - He can't get a game with Essex in Division 2, but the on-loan seamer starred for Warwickshire to take seven wickets against Yorkshire including a second innings five for 31.

Where next?

Read all our County Cricket coverage

See if you agree with our other County Championship XIs of the week

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #14

Rob Key (Kent) – So near, yet so far for Key after his vainglorious 162 came so close to leading his side to an improbable victory at The Oval.

Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) – A career best 184 in front of the watching Geoff Miller will do his England chances no harm at all. One of our ten to watch in 2011 and also 2010.

Zander de Bruyn (Surrey) – His 179 on the first day formed the bedrock of Surrey’s win over Kent, even if Key’s heroics meant it was squeaky bum time at the end.

Chesney Hughes (Derbyshire) – His side were in the mire with only six second innings wickets left and still 63 behind Glamorgan until a brilliant 167 turned the game around at Derby.

James Hildreth (Somerset) – After a stellar 2010, this season has been one of frustration for the Lions captain, but maybe his first Championship hundred of the season against Notts could finally get things going.

Matt Prior (Sussex) – Kieswetter, Foster and Wallace all may have scored hundreds, but Prior’s fabulous unbeaten 97 not out steered Sussex to a tricky victory target against Hampshire at Hove to seal his spot in our XI.

Jonathan Clare (Derbyshire) – A dream all-round match at Derby saw Clare hit a career best 130 and 29 with the bat and take five wickets with the ball.

Tim Linley (Surrey) – Outshone all the international bowlers on show at The Oval to return match figures of seven for 100 from 38 economical overs.

David Masters (Essex) – Took his Championship tally for the season to 52 wickets with another five for at Grace Road as Essex defeated the home side.

Monty Panesar (Sussex) – Just shaded his battle of the left-arm spinners with Danny Briggs at Hove with seven wickets in the match.

Tony Palladino (Derbyshire) – Completed a remarkable turnaround victory against Glamorgan with five for 50 to give him eight wickets in the game. 

Where next?

Read all our County Cricket coverage

See if you agree with our other County Championship XIs of the week

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

 

 

Ian Bell batting at number six in the England ODI side

 
Ian Bell is in the form of his life and is arguably pound for pound the best batsman in the England Test side at the moment.

So it is hardly surprising that the selectors want him in the ODI team. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to know what his best role is.

It clearly isn’t as a number six.

Bell may have all the shots in the book and play them with a grace and poise that the likes of Cook and Trott could only dream about, but a big hitter down the order he isn’t. That was painfully obvious at the Oval yesterday.

In our view, with KP and Morgan set in stone at four and five, Bell has to bat in the top three.

However, a top three of Cook, Bell and Trott probably doesn’t have enough firepower and ability to hit over the top during the Powerplay overs. Cook’s opening partner – either whatever wicketkeeper happens to be in favour at that particular time or a specialist batsman like Alex Hales – needs to have these skills in abundance.

That means only two of Cook, Bell and Trott should probably be in the side and with the selectors effectively having one hand tied behind their backs with the appointment of Cook as captain (we'd have gone for Bell), it comes down to a choice of Trott or Bell.

When you compare their records, the decision seems a straightforward one. Trott has an ODI average of 54 from 26 matches with three hundreds whilst Bell’s is only 35 from 98 matches with just the one hundred. Trott also has the better strike rate of 79 compared to Bell’s 73.

But, can England really become the number one ODI side in the world with Trott at three?

We suggest that Bell is more easily able to move through the gears, certainly has more shots and is a completely different batsman to the one he was two years ago. It is fairly safe to predict that Bell would likely shine in the number three role now.

Whilst it was good to see England put in such a comprehensive performance with bat and ball at The Oval yesterday, the selectors will have to solve the Bell conundrum in the not too distant future.

Where next?

England v Sri Lanka: England series marks out of 10

Ian Bell, The Stone Roses and some considerably large numbers

Experimental England? Our XIV man T20/ODI squad to face Sri Lanka

Are Cook, Trott and Bell more impressive than Pippa Middleton's derriere?

Three captains, Ken, Barbie and a whole lot of confusion

Should Alastair Cook be England's new ODI captain?

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Experimental England? Our XIV man T20/ODI squad to face Sri Lanka

 
With a fairly underwhelming Test series now finished attention can turn to the limited overs chapter of the trip, which comprises one T20 and five ODI.

As Sri Lanka showed in the World Cup, they are a formidable limited overs unit and even with the distraction of the Sanath Jayasuriya Farewell Tour in the T20 and first ODI, they should give England a real run for their money.

To be frank, the series is an unwelcome sideshow for England with by far the most important date of the summer being the Test series with India that starts on July 21.

As such, we at the Reverse Sweep hope that England rest a number of key players from the series to ensure that they are fit and raring to go to face Duncan Fletcher’s new charges at Lord’s in four and a half weeks time. It won’t happen, but for the purposes of this post we have replaced Geoff Miller as Chief Selector.

So with Miller gagged and bound in the committee room, the likes of Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Prior, Anderson, Tremlett and Swann would all be omitted. They can combine putting their feet up with turning out for their counties, whilst England take the opportunity to look at a number of likely candidates as they build towards the World Cup in 2015.

That leaves ODI captain Cook, T20 captain Broad and Morgan from the XI that played at The Rose Bowl. We would augment this trio with 11 additional in a 14 man squad.

Batsmen

We’ve already declared our support for Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales to open with Cook, and our number three would be Leicestershire’s James Taylor, followed by Morgan at four and Ravi Bopara at six. Slotting in between these two would be our wicket keeper Craig Kieswetter, who just shades it ahead of Steve Davies and the coming up fast on the rails Jonathan Bairstow. We’d liked to have seen how Ben Stokes would have fared at international level, but injury delays that for now, so our spare batsman would be James Hildreth.

Spinners

With Swann putting his feet up, Mike Yardy sadly unavailable and the James Tredwell experiment surely now at an end, Samit Patel and Adil Rashid would come in as our XI’s two spinners. Their contrasting slow left-arm and leg spin styles should dovetail perfectly and the fact that both can bat is a real bonus.

Seamers

Having declared Anderson and Tremlett unavailable and with Tim Bresnan still injured, we’d select Chris Woakes and Jade Dernbach to join Stuart Broad in the XI with Graham Onions and either James Harris (if fit) or Stuart Meaker joining them in the squad.

So our XIV with our first choice ODI XI in bold is as follows:

Cook, Hales, Taylor, Morgan, Kieswetter, Bopara, Patel, Woakes, Rashid, Broad, Dernbach, Hildreth, Onions and Harris/Meaker. Hildreth would replace Cook for the T20.

Where next?

Lay off England after World Cup proves a bridge too far

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

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

Jack Hobbs by Leo McKinstry | Book review

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Alex Hales should be picked in the England ODI side

 
We’ve been following the career of Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales for some time at the Reverse Sweep.

He first came to our attention in 2009 when he cracked a superlative 150 not out against Worcestershire in a 40 over game off only 102 balls with 13 fours and 8 sixes.

We said at the time that he could develop into a worthy successor to Marcus Trescothick as an England ODI and T20 opener who can actually hit the ball over the top during the critical Powerplay overs.

We subsequently named Hales as one to watch in 2010 and again this season, and have continued to be impressed with his development in all forms of the game. His 85 (off just 89 balls) in a sorry Nottinghamshire total of 143 in a Championship match earlier this season proved our faith has not been misplaced.

With England searching for an opening partner for new ODI captain Alastair Cook, the selectors would do well to look beyond wicketkeepers for once and install a proper batsman at the top of the order.

And in our opinion 22 year old Hales should be that man. He is in good form as his 67 off just 39 balls against Durham in the t20 last night more than ably demonstrated.

More importantly, his attacking style and the fact he is a right hander would complement the more attritional Cook perfectly and bring a youthful vigour and freshness that the ODI side desperately needs after yet another disappointing World Cup.

As a certain Sky commentator and Accrington resident would doubtless say “get him in.”

Where next?

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

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

Cricket Heroes: Marcus Trescothick

Cricket Heroes: David 'Bumble' Lloyd

County Championship XI of the week #10: Division 1 Half-Term XI

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

 
Concluding our half-term report on the ten players we nominated to watch in 2011 at the start of the season, we move to numbers 4-1 (as ranked  in order of ascending performance). Who has been the pick of the crop so far?

See also: Part 1 - Adam Lyth, Jos Buttler and Danny Briggs and Part 2 - Jade Dernbach, Adil Rashid and Rory Hamilton-Brown

4. Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire) (Championship: 335 runs at 55.83, CB40: 139 runs at 69.50, SR 115.83)

Promising start in both competitions cut short due to a broken jaw courtesy of an Ajmal Shahzad bouncer. Before his injury, Hales had struck four fifties in seven championship innings including 85 out of a total of 143 against Yorkshire. Hales also made an impressive start to the CB40 with a 101 ball 116 against Essex.

Rating: B – if not for his unlucky break, Hales could even have made the step-up to the England ODI squad where his hit-over-the-top style is reminiscent of a right-handed Marcus Trescothick

3. Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire) (Championship: 453 runs at 45.30; 16 wickets at 33.81. CB40: 171 runs at 42.75, SR 91.93; 2 wickets at 82.00, ER 5.46)

Is Patel finally starting to fulfil his promise? Has lost some weight (even if he still doesn’t exactly look trim), is Nottinghamshire’s leading run scorer in the Championship and outbowled Swann when they bowled in tandem at Hove. For good measure, Patel also scored a ton for the Lions against Sri Lanka.

Verdict: B+ – a good bet for a call-up to the ODI squad. If he keeps this up, a lucrative endorsement from Weight Watchers will surely follow.

2. James Harris (Glamorgan) (Championship: 26 wickets at 21.96, 224 runs at 37.33; CB40: 9 wickets at 14.88, ER 5.18)

Another to suffer from injury after an impressive start, Harris has taken two five-fers in the Championship and doubtless would have impressed Andrew Strauss when taking eight wickets (including that of the England captain) in the win at Lord’s. Impressive batting shows Harris has another string to his bow too.

Verdict: Hit – England have a plethora of impressive seamers and Harris is right up there with the best of those who are not in the current squad.

1. Ben Stokes (Durham) (Championship: 609 runs at 55.36; 17 wickets at 33.00. CB40: 305 runs at 61.00, SR 105.53; 9 wickets at 14.22, ER 5.05)

The pick of the lot thus far. Stokes only turned 20 at the weekend, but has already hit three Championship hundreds this season and his bowling continues to improve even if he does go for a few. Has also scored runs and taken wickets in the CB40, where his 150 not out off just 113 balls against Warwickshire is the obvious standout. Desperately unlucky to have sustained a badly dislocated finger, which has ruled him out for six to eight weeks and put paid to any chance of his call-up to the England ODI squad – for now.

Verdict: A – it’s a matter of when, not if, Stokes plays for England

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #3

 
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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

The County Championship: There's life in the old dog yet

 
Despite competition from the IPL, a severe financial crisis and having most of its matches shunted from mid-summer in favour of an over-elongated Twenty 20 competition, the latest round of County Championship games showed that reports of its imminent death have been greatly exaggerated.

As county aficionados who have had the good fortune to witness events will concur, the matches that finished on Friday or Saturday threw up a number of classics to emphasise just why first-class cricket will always surpass its impatient limited overs cousins.

Terrific turnarounds

Reigning champions Nottinghamshire (193 runs behind), Sussex (98) and Warwickshire (174) all faced big 1st innings deficits but all came back to win.

Thrilling run chases

Sussex (309) and Middlesex (328) both thrillingly chased down 300+ victory targets against Durham and Derbyshire respectively in topsy-turvy games at Chester-le-Street and Derby.

Shocks

Pre-season Division 1 favourites Somerset were on the receiving end of a second successive innings defeat, this time against Lancashire at Liverpool. Unpredictability is another facet of the County Championship – can you imagine Manchester United losing their first two games of the season heavily?

God loves County Cricket

Despite the ridiculously early start to the season, the Gods have been kind with the weather - for instance whilst the South of France (and we should know) experienced a deluge yesterday, the sun shone on England's green and pleasant cricket fields.

New stars

Wherever you looked, young players are really making their mark. A second successive double hundred from Varun Chopra and six wickets from Chris Woakes saw Warwickshire turn the tables on Worcestershire. 20 year old Luke Wells scored a maiden first-class hundred in Sussex’ssuccessful run chase and the likes of Alex Hales, Nathan Buck, Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid and seventeen year old Reece Topley have also starred so far this season. The future does indeed look bright for England.

There’s certainly life in the old dog yet.

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Cricket Preview - Players to watch: Alex Hales

 
We’ve been banging on about Hales at The Reverse Sweep for a while now. He was one of our 12 to watch in 2010, and once he established himself in the 1st XI, the 22 year old contributed 677 runs at 35.63 to Nottinghamshire’s successful push for the title. Hales also demonstrated his big hitting ability in the limited overs formats of the game.

If he continues to develop, the tall, right-hander could be the man who finally replaces Marcus Trescothick at the top of the order in England’s ODI and Twenty 20 sides.

Definitely one to watch in 2011. 

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

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship Preview - Division 1: Nottinghamshire

 
Last season’s county champions despite a passable imitation of a South African team in the knockout stages of the World Cup in the final stages, Chris Read’s side will be looking to double up this summer.

Strengths

Andre Adams was immense last summer with 68 championship wickets at 22.17 and he, Charlie Shreck, Darren Pattinson and Luke Fletcher are a strong stock of seamers. David Hussey and Adam Voges are excellent choices as overseas players to bolster the batting, Read is reliability personified and young Alex Hales looks like he could be a real player.

Weaknesses

The batting lacks depth and assuming that Hales fills the number three position, Nottinghamshire are a bit weak in the opening department with Mark Wagh past his best and Neil Edwards not convincing.

Main man

It’s a big year for Samit Patel. If he does as he has been asked and gets fit, a place in the England ODI side is his for the taking. But will he take heed this time? Chris Read is a hugely underrated cricketer and Notts’ main man – brilliant behind the stumps and always contributing runs when his side needs them.

Look out for…

Patel advertising for Weight Watchers and Hales breaking into the England ODI squad for the matches against India.

Prediction

5th – no repeat in our view for last year’s champions

Where next?

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

The reason why England won't be number one in Test or ODIs?

With England snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the Hobart ODI last Friday, we felt a strange and unfathomable urge to go on to Twitter to write:

“A hopeless performance from England after having the game more or less won when Oz were 142/8. But we won the Ashes, so who cares?”

Like any other England cricket fan we always want England to win - especially against Australia, but we’d be surprised if any of our fellow England supporters would swap success in the Ashes series for winning the current seven match one day series or even the World Cup for that matter.

Indeed, BBC News would be a more appropriate sponsor for this particular series given that it always follows the Lord Mayor’s Show.

So, we were a bit surprised when SharanRP retweeted our comment, adding:

“Typical Eng mentality. Hence never going to be number 1 in either format”

Unsurprisingly, we don’t agree. Test cricket – and especially an Ashes series – will always take precedence over limited overs cricket in the eyes of the England team and English fans. There is nothing wrong in our view in saying that - a case of us not having our cake and eating it too.

The World Cup is important – even if the 2011 edition will see 42 warm-up matches before the main course of the quarter finals finally arrives – and England have improved markedly in the 50 over format in the last 18 months. Assuming that England safely negotiate their way to the quarter finals then they will only need to win three matches to win the trophy.

Given that the World Cup will be played on the sub-continent and given that the quarter finals don’t start until late-March, the run of defeats that the ODI side is currently experiencing in Australia has absolutely no bearing on how England will fare in the World Cup.

Indeed, if we had been in charge of selection, then the 13 players that successfully retained the Ashes would have been sent home after the Sydney Test to put their feet up and savour their triumph.

Perhaps we would have retained Paul Collingwood to lead a team of Lions for what is an utterly meaningless and overlong series – seven matches is at least two and probably four too many. It would have been more interesting to see how a young England side including the likes of Alex Hales, James Hildreth, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid would have fared. Instead, we have seen key players like Swann, KP and Bresnan getting injured and others simply going through the motions or understandably losing their focus with the main prize already won.

In 2006-07, England won the Commonwealth Bank Series – with Collingwood playing a starring role – after being trounced in the Test series. Whilst in 2009, England put in another ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ performance in the one-dayers that followed the regaining of the Ashes and lost 6-1.

We know what outcome we preferred. That doesn’t mean we or England have a negative mindset, it just means that like a Premier League manager who places league position and the Champions League above the Carling Cup, we know how to prioritise.

And who says that in the next 18 months, England cannot emerge as the number one team in either or even both formats? You may well be proved wrong there SharanRP!

Where next?

Reaction to England’s World Cup Squad – Prior the victor

What Cricket can learn from Football in staging a World Cup

Check out all our Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes including amongst others Bob Willis, Dennis Lillee, Matthew Hayden, Paul Harris, Ijaz Butt and Kamran Akmal

Follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

The Quest for the Holy Gilchrist

 
With all due reference to Romesh Kaluwitharana, Adam Gilchrist is to blame.

Ever since Gilchrist combined keeping wicket and opening the batting with quite devastating effect in ODI, pretty much very other country has tried to replicate the formula. However for the most part, the selectorial alchemists have only managed to make fool's gold.

The missing ingredient is that they all conveniently forgot that Gilchrist was brilliant enough to be picked for his batting alone. Instead. all manner of wholly unsuitable glovemen have been elevated above their station in a mostly forlorn quest to find a new Holy Gilchrist (see full list here).

Not many have been a success. Brendon McCullum has done reasonably well and the regal Kumar Sangakkara managed to score four hundreds in 19 ODI before returning to the middle order. Alec did it in 76 ODI and managed to average 35 - albeit at a pretty sedate run rate of 69.50.

But that is pretty much it. Australia have tried to shoehorn Brad Haddin and Tim Paine into the role since Gilchrist departed with limited success - surely Haddin in particular would be better suited to coming in at six and blasting some boundaries in the latter overs (especially when Australia has Shaun Marsh in reserve).

That serial underachiever Kamran Akmal has opened in 57 ODI and averages under 27 (as well as no doubt dropping numerous chances behind the stumps). Even Ridley Jacobs did it 26 times and three Kenyan keepers have combined to open in over a century of ODI.

Indeed only South Africa - never ones to follow the latest trend – have not joined in, perhaps sensibly concluding that Mark Boucher offered much more down the order than he would atop it.

But England are perhaps the worst offenders. Matt Prior, Stephen Davies, Phil Mustard, Craig Kieswetter and Geraint Jones have all been tried and none has convinced. They have 51 ODIs between them at the top of the order and the grand total of zero hundreds – Kieswetter’s hundred against Bangladesh came when Prior was wearing the gloves.

Yet, England seem rooted to the belief that their keeper – whichever misfortunate has been handed the task – should open the batting.

Prior is an excellent strokemaker down the order. But he isn’t an opening batsman and England should stop trying to make him one.

In the absence of a Marcus Trescothick type – a proper opener who could hit the ball over the top in the powerplay overs (Alex Hales is a long-term prospect here), one of the other batsmen (probably Ian Bell) or a pinch-hitter (Graeme Swann could be a good bet for the sub-continent) should be given the job.

Whatever, England’s quest for the Holy Gilchrist seems doomed to failure like that of pretty much every other team heading to the World Cup.  

Where next?

Reaction to England’s World Cup Squad – Prior the victor

Heroes: Adam Gilchrist

Zeroes: Kamran Akmal

What Cricket can learn from Football in staging a World Cup

All-time Australian Ashes XI - Wicketkeeper

All-time England Ashes XI - Wicketkeeper

Check out all our Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes including amongst others Graeme Swann, David Lloyd, Channel 9, Charles Colville, Bob Willis and David Gower

Follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Steve Finn wins the big prize of the season

Well, not really. But the inevitable has become reality and after leading pretty much from the first hurdle, Steve Finn has won our County Player to Watch of the season.

Back in April, we named our 12 county players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2) and devised a probably flawed scoring system to assess which player(s) of our chosen few would make the biggest impact during the long 2010 English domestic season. We later expanded this list to 16 to incorporate four extra players who had made a flying start to the campaign.

But after taking 14 wickets against Worcestershire back in April, Finn led the table for all but a short time as the extra points on offer for any of our 16 who graduated to the test team proved decisive. Finn is probably a worthy winner, but looking elsewhere in the final table we may have to refine the points categories for next season.

Despite having a fantastic World T20, Craig Kieswetter's season was disappointing, which suggests his runners-up position in our table is too high. Similarly, Chris Tremlett's 48 wickets at just over 20 suggests that he finished too low in the table.

But with a few notable exceptions, we are pretty pleased with the 16 we chose. Most achieved and enhanced their reputations and of the few who didn't (Sam Northeast, David Wainwright and Scott Borthwick), we are confident that there is much more to come.

Player	County	Played	Points		Points awarded*
Finn	Middlesex	13	231		County Appearance	5
Kieswetter	Somerset	28	196		Lions Appearance	10
Rashid	Yorkshire	16	186		Test appearance	20
Hildreth	Somerset	16	185		T20I/ODI/Lions one day	3
Taylor	Leics	19	171		Score of 40-49	3
Bopara	Essex	21	162		50-99	5
Woakes	Warks	17	159		100-199	10
Gale	Yorkshire	18	155		200+	20
Hamilton-Brown	Surrey	16	132		3 wickets in an innings	3
Panesar	Sussex	16	130		4 wickets	5
Northeast	Kent	16	111		5 or 6 wickets	10
Tremlett	Surrey	12	110		7wickets+	20
Stokes	Durham	13	109		Catches	1
Hales	Notts	12	104		Stumpings	3
Borthwick	Durham	10	67
Wainwright	Yorkshire	5	29