The Reverse Sweep

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

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We want Harmison & Sidebottom to start at the Gabba

Well, that's what the Australians want anyway.

Every time an Ashes series approaches, several current and former Australian players starting talking up the players they would like to see in the England line-up.

Last summer it was Steve Harmison who featured in nearly every interview with one of Ricky Ponting's squad or former players with close links to the hierarchy like Shane Warne and Justin Langer. All were smilingly unanimous in their assertions that Harmison was the best bowler England had and that they would be delighted if he wasn't picked. What they actually meant of course was that given that the 2006/07 series had given them a huge psychological edge over the mentally weak fast bowler they would love to see him running in to bowl against them.

They've already been talking up Harmison again in the run-up to the forthcoming series Down Under, but it is unlikely that Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss will fall for it this time and the emergence of Steven Finn has probably put the final nail in the coffin of Harmison's England career.

So now the Australians have turned their attentions to the next England bowler they would love to see at the Gabba in November. Speaking after his Nottinghamshire side's FP T20 win over Worcestershire, David Hussey spent most of the time talking up Ryan Sidebottom and hinted that the Australians would not be keen to face him in the upcoming series.

Don't be fooled by this. This was not a case of a captain talking up one of his team for the sake of his county. This was Hussey saying we'd be delighted to face Sidebottom on Australian pitches where we think he would be as innocuous as a caterpillar at a convention of lions.

Next up, expect to see Ricky Ponting talking up Chris Tremlett as a fit and fiery fast bowler and James Tredwell as a mystery spinner in the category of Warne and Murali.