The Reverse Sweep

County Championship of the week #7

Paul Horton (Lancashire) - Seven and a half hour vigil saved Lancashire from defeat at Edgbaston. It was his first hundred in the Championship for two years and could prove a turning point in the champions faltering defence of their title.

Wayne Madsen (Derbyshire) - The skipper struck his second ton of the season as Division 2's surprise packet beat Glamorgan to extend their lead at the top of the table.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (Leicestershire) - Whilst the West Indies top order struggled at Lord's the man with 15 Test tons made hay at Grace Road with innings of 117 and 98 against Essex.

Simon Katich (Hampshire) - Australia's loss, Hampshire's gain and Yorkshire's pain as Michael Clarke's favourite ex-team mate stroked 196 and 61 not out at Headingley.

James Hildreth (Somerset) - High-class hundred gave Somerset the early initiative in a highly competitive and entertaining draw at The Oval. 

Michael Bates (Hampshire) - Purists have raved about his high-quality keeping, but could he improve with the bat? A maiden hundred at Headingley suggests he can - see also Our County XI to watch in 2012.

Rikki Clarke (Warwickshire) - No wickets in the draw with Lancashire, but his fine year with the bat continued with a second championship ton of the season at Edgbaston. 

David Wainwright (Derbyshire) - Took a five wicket second innings haul at Derby to put his side into a winning position against Glamorgan.

Stuart Meaker (Surrey) - Brought his side storming back into the match at The Oval with a second innings haul of eight for 52 and grabbed 11 in the match.

David Masters (Essex) - Last season's leading wicket taker grabbed six first innings Leicestershire wickets in the draw at Grace Road. 

Monty Panesar (Sussex) - Took five wickets and probably deserved more in 37 probing overs at New Road.

Where next?

Our County Championship predictions - Thank God for Yorkshire

Hedley Verity - a proper hero with 'no breaking point'

Read our previous County Championship weekly XIs

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 1 - Somerset

We predicted that Somerset would finally end their wait to win their first Championship last season. We were wrong. Can County Cricket's perenniel bridesmaids conquer history in 2012? They even finished second on a solo trip to the South Pole.

Strengths

The arrival of Vernon Philander as the overseas player - even if it is only until May - could prove inspired if his spectacular introduction to Test cricket is anything to go by. Then there is the small matter of run machine Marcus Trescothick - the best batsman and the rosiest cheeks in County Cricket. Chuck in the supremely talented James Hildreth, Jos Buttler, Craig Kieswetter and Lewis Gregory and Somerset have the nucleus of a very strong and exciting side. 

Weaknesses

After so many near misses in all of the domestic competitions over the last three seasons, one has to wonder if Somerset have enough of the killer instinct to win trophies. Some of the younger players have been too inconsistent in the Championship and when Philander departs will the bowling attack left behind be strong enough to win enough matches to claim the title? They are also likely to lose Buttler and Kieswetter to England for limite overs internationals.

Main man

In the last five seasons, Marcus Trescothick has scored close to 7500 runs in the Championship at an average of 64 with 25 hundreds to usurp Mark Ramprakash as the outstanding batsman in County Cricket. If Somerset are to challenge they will need more of the same from their captain.

Look out for

Confusion if Somerset actually manage to win anything. Who would they throw the bouquet to having finally become the bride?

Prediction

5th - Philander and Trescothick could give them a flying start, but once the South African leaves who other than Steve Kirby is going to take a regular supply of wickets?

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 Cricket 2011 Heroes: Marcus Trescothick

Vernon Philander joins the great Victorians

County Championship 2011 Preview - Somerset 

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 #19

Whilst it was tempting just to list the Lancashire XI from Taunton, we decided to stick to the formula for our last County Championship XI of the season:

Stephen Moore (Lancashire) – Two contrasting fifties as Lancashire ended their barren 77 year quest: a sedate 1st innings 50 from 80 balls helped steady nerves after Somerset had scored 380 and his rapid 55 ball 71 gave early impetus to their 2nd innings run chase.

Liam Dawson (Hampshire) – Held up Warwickshire by carrying his bat in a marathon six hour ten minute epic – perhaps giving Carberry and McKenzie belief they could do the same when Hampshire followed on.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Warwickshire) – A third hundred in four Championship matches looked to have given his side the decisive edge in the title race, but it wasn’t to be this time for the man who was on the field when Durham triumphed in 2008 and 2009.

James Hildreth (Somerset) – Perhaps remembering that it was Lancashire’s loss to Nottinghamshire that deprived Somerset of the title last season, Hildreth finally showed his class after a disappointing season with 185 at Taunton.

Neil McKenzie (Hampshire) – Took his cue from Dawson and with a willing accomplice in Carberry broke Warwickshire hearts with an unbeaten 115 compiled over 344 granite-like minutes. Statues of the South African are probably being erected all over the Red Rose county as we write.

Tom Maynard (Surrey) – A third Championship ton of the season set Surrey up for maximum batting points and the win that ensured promotion to Division 1.

John Simpson (Middlesex) – Makes our XI for the second successive week for taking Middlesex over the line with a composed 27 not out when panic stations were starting to be reached against Leicestershire. Also struck a 1st innings fifty.

Gareth Berg (Middlesex) – Without Berg’s three 1st innings wickets, career best 130 and match-winning partnership with Simpson, Middlesex could have been in purgatory instead of promotion heaven.

David Willey (Northamptonshire) – His side may have been cruelly denied promotion, but Willey’s match figures of ten for 75 gave some small consolation to Northamptonshire’s heartbroken supporters.

Glen Chapple (Lancashire) – Even on one leg there was no way that anyone was getting Chapple off the Taunton pitch. The post-match celebratory champagne will have acted as the ideal anaesthetic to Lancashire’s favourite ever Yorkshireman. OBEs have been handed out for less.

Pragyan Ojha (Surrey) – Bamboozled Derbyshire with match figures of 47.2-16-90-10 to take Surrey up and make his final tally 24 wickets at 13 from his four matches. As Surrey won them all, does that make Ojha the signing of the season?

Where next?

Liam Dawson narrowly fails in quest to become honorary Lancastrian just like Glen Chapple

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves gets straight to the point

Read all our County Cricket coverage

County Championship XI of the week #18

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Heroes: Justin Langer

 
Yeah, yeah, we know. It is strange for an Englishman to regard such a dyed-in-the-wool Australian like Justin Langer as a cricket hero, but please bear with us.

Like with Paul Collingwood, we admire that Langer wrung out every ounce of his talent in order to be a very successful test match cricketer. It's difficult not to admire someone who works that hard and allies supreme determination and good hard yakka to produce results that are greater than the sum of its parts. What Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick amongst others would have given to have had the mental strength and work ethic of a Langer.

But whilst we admire Langer's achievements as a batsman - his 5654 runs in partnership with Matthew Hayden (definitely not a Reverse Sweep hero as we posted at the weekend - see Zeroes: Matthew Hayden), his average of 45 in 105 tests and the fact he is the record Australian first class run scorer - it is not this that qualifies him for hero status.

No, in a time when most books or diaries by active cricketers say absolutely nothing, Langer's regular submissions to the BBC's websitewere honest and provided a fascinating insight into what it was to be part of one of the most successful teams in cricket history. Especially during the 2005 Ashes, Langer's diary entries described how the series unfurled and how a supremely confident Australian side were rattled and ultimately beaten by a resurgent England side. Elsewhere he tackled some of the major issues facing cricket head-on and explained exactly what he thought. As the written words were exactly how Langer spoke, we would also guess that he actually wrote the column, which is rare. 

We didn't have a problem with the infamous dossier that emerged during the 2009 Ashes series. For a start, Langer's observations seemed pretty accurate and did anyone really expect that a patriotic Australian like Langer was not going to pass on any advice that might be helpful to his former team-mates? 

In any case, Langer was a loyal servent to county cricket first to Middlesex and then as an astute leader on and off the field at Somerset. When he took the reins, Somerset were a struggling Division 2 side. When he left they were firmly established as one of the top sides in the country and even experienced a Champions League jolly in India. Their near-success this season is down to the legacy that Langer left and when James Hildreth and Jos Buttler eventually play for England, the influence of Langer will very much be there. 

Langer had his flaws and some of his words about the camaraderie in the Australian team and his worship of Steve Waugh were whimsical to say the least. But for honesty, not being afraid to have something to say, hard work and for being an antidote to Matthew Hayden, Langer is a Reverse Sweep hero. 

Where next?

Check out all our other Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes

Inspiration for England to win the Ashes 5-0

Geoffrey Boycott's glorious comeback

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

 

 

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

Who should get the vote to be England's new number six batsman?

 
It’s just over a week until Test cricket resumes for England’s Ashes heroes with the 1st Test at Cardiff against Sri Lanka. With Paul Collingwood having retired from the long form of the game, at least one place in the XI is up for grabs.

Most of the likely contenders face what is shaping up to be a final audition in the Lions match against the tourists, which starts on Thursday at Derby.  

Here’s how the RS sees the runners and riders:

Eoin Morgan – next cab off the rank, long-term favourite

When Collingwood announced his Test retirement during the SCG Test, it was widely assumed that Morgan was first in line to replace him. The Irishman had filled in for Collingwood and then Ian Bell in six Tests against Bangladesh and Pakistan last summer and scored an impressive maiden Test hundred against the latter at Trent Bridge (even if he struggled in the three subsequent Tests). But whilst Morgan has been struggling for Kolkata in the IPL, his challengers have been coming up fast on the rails, meaning his outing this week for the Lions will be crucial to his chances.

Verdict – expect this early front-runner to be pipped at the post

Ravi Bopara – the show pony with more than one trick

Other than Morgan, is the only contender to have played at the highest level. Three hundreds in successive tests against the West Indies in 2009 had suggested a long and fruitful Test career, before the Ashes series that followed showed up Bopara’s shortcomings as a Test number three. After turning down the IPL dollars in favour of trying to impress in the County Championship, Bopara has scored a hundred in each of his last two games. He also has 119 overs of brisk medium pace under his belt giving Bopara a potential deciding second string to his bow.

Verdict – is neck and neck with the favourite coming up to the last and looks to be a fast finisher

James Hildreth – Chief Lion

The man once described by his former county captain Justin Langer as “an extraordinary talent” delivered in a big way last summer with 1440 Championship runs and seven centuries. He continued to impress over the winter for the Lions and took over the captaincy from Andrew Gale. Unfortunately, looks to have picked an inopportune time to have a dip in form - eight championship innings this summer have yielded only 195 runs.  

Verdict – Had been really challenging but is now fading fast

James Taylor – the long term prospect

The diminutive 21 year old Leicestershire batsman may prove to be the strongest contender of all in the long-run, but is likely to have to bide his time on this occasion. Has a sound technique, as well as real guts and heart too if his recent battling display against a fiery Surrey attack on a lively Oval pitch is anything to go by.

Verdict – a thoroughbred in the making, but will not make the winner’s enclosure this time  

Samit Patel – the top weight

A late entrant into the race after struggling with fitness issues over the winter, Patel has started the season well with 365 runs at 46 and 13 wickets at 32. Outbowled Graeme Swann at Hove last week and most importantly seems to have taken heed of what was probably his final warning from the England hierarchy. A strong showing for the Lions this week - on and off the pitch - could bode well for a recall to ODI colours at least.

Verdict – may lack the staying power required for the longer races

Ben Stokes – the rank outsider

Still a teenager (just), Stokes has continued to impress for Durham and already has two Championship hundreds to his name this season and averages 48. Like Bopara, he bowls brisk medium pace and took six for 68 in the first game of the season against Hampshire. But he is yet to add to that tally and has proved expensive at times. At the moment, Stokes is a batsman that bowls rather than a genuine all-rounder and like Patel, is probably a better bet for the ODI squad.

Verdict – don’t put your money on this long shot - especially as he is the only contender not in the Lions squad

Of course, England may decide not to go with six batsmen against what on paper at least looks an inexperienced and weak Sri Lankan bowling attack. In which case, Matt Prior would bat at six. But with India coming up afterwards, the selectors will probably want to bed in the new man, so it will be a huge surprise if one of our six contenders does not start in Cardiff.

Whilst we expect that man to be Bopara, the Reverse Sweep would actually opt for Taylor despite the former's usefulness as a fifth bowler. The RS has been impressed by Taylor every time we've seen him and in our view he will probably play 100 Tests.

Where next?

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

Farewell to Paul Collingwood - England's Working Class Hero

County Championship XI of the week #6

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

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

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County Championship Preview - Division 1: Somerset

 
Last year’s continuous bridesmaids are the favourites with the bookies to win their first ever County Championship, but will the boys from Taunton finally get to visit the winners enclosure?

Strengths

Along with Mark Ramprakash, captain Marcus Trescothick is still the best English batsman and is likely to score heavily. He will be ably supported by James Hildreth who had a stunning 2010, as well as Arul Suppiah, Nick Compton and the promising Jos Buttler. Craig Kieswetter seems to have recovered from his trough of last season and should get back in the runs.

The bowling ranks have been strengthened with the addition of Steve Kirby, Gemaal Hussain and Ireland’s spin sensation George Dockrell. It will also be fascinating to see how county batsmen fare against Ajantha Mendis when he covers for Murali Kartik.

All in all it looks like a very strong squad.

Weaknesses

The batting paradise that is Taunton is likely to yield a more than average number of draws and the runs of Zander de Bruyn will be missed. Apart from that, there doesn’t appear to be many weaknesses although England calls could deprive Somerset of Hildreth and Kieswetter for the climax to the season.

Main man

It has to be Marcus Trescothick – how England could have done with him at the top of the order in the World Cup.

Look out for…

The continued development of Buttler, Hildreth and Kieswetter. There are some seriously talented young cricketers at Taunton.

Prediction

Champions – finally the promised land for Somerset and who’d argue with the bookies?

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

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

 

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.

ECB get the County Championship finish they don't deserve

The final round of County Championship matches started yesterday with three teams battling it out to be Division 1 champions. After losing their last two matches, Nottinghamshire are fading fast and will hope that their slender two point advantage over Somerset proves crucial in the final reckoning.

Somerset have never won the title, but if they can overcome Durham then captain Marcus Trescothick could get the reward that his glittering career deserves. His counterpart at Yorkshire, Andrew Gale, would also be a worthy holder of the trophy should the White Rose county overhaul the two teams above them.

Not so worthy of recognition are the ECB who have served up a real hotch potch of a season. No test matches for England at the height of summer in July, an overlong Twenty 20 competition and a further degradation of the championship have been some but not all of the blunders served up by Giles Clarke and his fellow clowns.

As the season reaches its conclusion we've remembered that we've been as absent-minded as the ECB in not posting an update of our County Player of the Season table in the last few weeks. Anyway the penultimate table is below and it looks like Steve Finn is going to win another (albeit obscure) award in his breakthrough season.

Player	County	Played	Points		Points awarded*
Finn	Middlesex	13	231		County Appearance	5
Kieswetter	Somerset	27	186		Lions Appearance	10
Rashid	Yorkshire	15	180		Test appearance	20
Hildreth	Somerset	15	170		T20I/ODI/Lions one day	3
Bopara	Essex	19	155		Score of 40-49	3
Taylor	Leics	18	154		50-99	5
Gale	Yorkshire	17	150		100-199	10
Woakes	Warks	16	144		200+	20
Panesar	Sussex	15	122		3 wickets in an innings	3
Hamilton-Brown	Surrey	15	119		4 wickets	5
Stokes	Durham	13	109		5 or 6 wickets	10
Northeast	Kent	15	105		7wickets+	20
Tremlett	Surrey	11	99		Catches	1
Hales	Notts	11	98		Stumpings	3
Borthwick	Durham	9	61
Wainwright	Yorkshire	5	29

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fared over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We later extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix.

Chris Tremlett & Monty Panesar give England selectors an Ashes nudge

With just the final test at Lord's to go, the England selectors will soon have the test after that on their minds. The small matter of the first Ashes test against Australia at Brisbane, which starts on 25th November.

Despite a poor performance at The Oval, the XI who have featured in the three tests to date against Pakistan are racing certainties to be included in the Ashes party to be named some time in September. But spots are up for grabs for extra pacemen and a second spinner.

It is a big season for Chris Tremlett and Monty Panesar with their respective new counties Surrey and Sussex. Tremlett played three tests against India in 2007 and did reasonably well, but since then inconsistency and above all injury, has seen him slip off the selectors radar. A feeling that he lacks the inner fire of a Stuart Broad has also not helped his cause. But his season for Surrey is getting better and better and match figures of 38.1-12-87-8 last week against Worcestershire seem to suggest he is back to his best. He now has 38 championship wickets at 19.6 this season. Is it too late for him as far as England are concerned? Or will the selectors take a gamble on a bowler whose height and bounce would seem to be ideal for Australian conditions?

Panesar would seem to be the favourite for the second spinners role ahead of the untried Adil Rashid. After an annus horribilis in 2009, Panesar seems to have got his mojo back at Sussex where his 43 wickets at 24.11 have helped Sussex top the Division 2 table. Like Tremlett, Monty too is coming into form at the right time and last week took match figures of seven for 122 as Derbyshire were humbled at Horsham.

Elsewhere in our County Player off the Year table, Steve Finn extends his lead despite a poor game at The Oval with second placed Rashid only bowling nine overs on a seamers wicket at Chester-le-Street. Other players to shine in the latest round of county championship matches were James Hildreth, who continued his fine recent form with 84 and 59 in Somerset's victory over Essex, and Andrew Gale, who rediscovered his early season form with a rapid 70 not out in Yorkshire's run chase against Durham.

The latest table is below:

Player	County	Played	Points		Points awarded*
Finn	Middlesex	11	203		County Appearance	5
Rashid	Yorkshire	13	164		Lions Appearance	10
Kieswetter	Somerset	24	162		Test appearance	20
Hildreth	Somerset	13	160		T20I/ODI/Lions one day	3
Taylor	Leics	16	143		Score of 40-49	3
Bopara	Essex	14	130		50-99	5
Gale	Yorkshire	15	130		100-199	10
Panesar	Sussex	13	112		200+	20
Hamilton-Brown	Surrey	13	104		3 wickets in an innings	3
Stokes	Durham	12	104		4 wickets	5
Woakes	Warks	14	103		5 or 6 wickets	10
Northeast	Kent	13	89		7wickets+	20
Tremlett	Surrey	9	86		Catches	1
Hales	Notts	8	69		Stumpings	3
Borthwick	Durham	6	37
Wainwright	Yorkshire	5	29

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fared over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We later extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix. 

Whilst we were away...

...quite a lot has happened in cricket.

It's only been a week, but we've seen:

• Ricky Ponting appearing on the Australian version of Stars In Their Eyes, and announcing the immortal words "Tonight Matthew, I am going to be Glenn McGrath", before duly predicting that a 5-0 Ashes win was "absolutely possible" this winter. Weren't you bowled out for 88 in your last test, Ricky?

• Yuvraj Singh contracting dengue fever. 2010 has truly been an Annus Horribilis so far for Yuvraj, but I suppose at least he may lose some of that excess weight now.
• Hampshire crowned FP T20 champions after an admittedly exciting set of semi-finals and final at the Rose Bowl, which saw Essex jet over Dwayne Bravo only to see him make only five off eight balls before being run out and then being hammered for 46 off his four overs.
• Alastair Cook retain his place in the England side for the third test at The Oval. We feel the selectors have missed an opportunity here to move Trott up to open (especially as he and Strauss have batted well together) and blood James Hildreth (six centuries this summer) or take another look at Ravi Bopara. Cook too may have been better served by going back to Essex to regain form and confidence.
• A massive reprieve for Kamran Akmal after his replacement Zulqarnain Haider was ruled out of the rest of the test series with a fractured finger. There has been some talk that the injury was caused when Stuart Broad threw the ball at Zulqarnain during the Edgbaston test. Could make things spicy at The Oval on Wednesday.  

James Hildreth enjoys the joy of six

Whilst we've been away some teams have played two county matches (and have started their third this week), which means that the Reverse Sweep County Player of the Year table is in need of a bit of an update.

Steve Finn is still out in front thanks to the extra points available for those lucky enough to play test cricket and because he keeps taking wickets. Though maybe we need to readjust the points given that the Pakistan batting line-up would probably struggle against a Division Two county attack at present?

Of those in close pursuit, Adil Rashid had a quiet match against Nottinghamshire a couple of weeks ago, which has allowed Craig Kieswetter and James Hildreth to close the gap in third and fourth. Hildreth has now hit six championship hundreds this season and may yet prove Justin Langer's opinion that the Somerset batsman was "an extraordinary talent" correct.

Elsewhere Scott Borthwick has managed to move off the bottom of the table thanks to him being picked by Durham. The much vaunted David Wainwright is now bottom of the pile ridiculing suggestions by some at the start of the season that he could move up the blind side to be named as the second spinner in this winter's Ashes party. Watch out though for Chris Tremlett, who is close to his best now that both fitness and rhythm have returned.

Player	County	Played	Points		Points awarded*
Finn	Middlesex	10	183		County Appearance	5
Rashid	Yorkshire	12	159		Lions Appearance	10
Kieswetter	Somerset	23	152		Test appearance	20
Hildreth	Somerset	12	145		T20I/ODI/Lions one day	3
Taylor	Leics	16	143		Score of 40-49	3
Bopara	Essex	13	124		50-99	5
Gale	Yorkshire	14	120		100-199	10
Panesar	Sussex	12	99		200+	20
Hamilton-Brown	Surrey	12	99		3 wickets in an innings	3
Stokes	Durham	11	97		4 wickets	5
Woakes	Warks	13	95		5 or 6 wickets	10
Northeast	Kent	12	84		7wickets+	20
Tremlett	Surrey	8	71		Catches	1
Hales	Notts	7	61		Stumpings	3
Borthwick	Durham	6	37
Wainwright	Yorkshire	5	29

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fared over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We later extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix. 

Steven Finn is back in charge

With Adil Rashid and Yorkshire not having a game, Steven Finn eased back to the head of our County Player to Watch 2010 Table with five wickets in England's demolition of Pakistan at Trent Bridge. Finn must now be hot favourite to win this title given that he has three more tests to come against Pakistan's fragile batting line-up over the next few weeks.

Elsewhere it was a quiet week with six of our sixteen's counties not in Championship action. Three players did impress however. James Hildreth hit his fourth championship ton of the summer, a season's best 142, as Somerset trounced Nottinghamshire. Craig Kieswetter also got amongst the runs with 73 in the same match. The other player to shine was Chris Tremlett who bowled a fiery new spell to take three wickets in five balls against Middlesex and ended up with four for 90. He also scored 53 not out, but was unable to avert an innings defeat for his county Surrey.

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fared over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We later extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix. 

 

 

Adil Rashid is knock, knock, knocking on England's door

As is often the case, we found ourselves agreeing with a discussion on Test Match Sofa during coverage of the Australia-Pakistan test at Headingley. This particular debate related to Adil Rashid and whether he should be elevated to the Englandtest and/or one day squad. So far this season, Rashid has taken 49 championship wickets at 27.87 and scored 524 runs at 52.40. These are stats that the likes of Tim Bresnan, Luke Wright and James Tredwell, all of whom seem ahead of Rashid in the England pecking order, could only dream of.

In our humble opinion, Rashid should go to Australia (just ahead of Monty Panesar) as the second spinner where he could expect to play at Adelaide and/or Sydney. The Yorkshire leg-spinner should certainly go to the World Cup, where three spinners will be required. But will the England selectors go where their Australian counterparts have already trod by picking fellow young leg spinner (but inferior to Rashid) Steve Smith?

Whatever his fate over the winter, Rashid stretches his lead at the top of our County Player to Watch in 2010 table, despite the return of erstwhile leader Steve Finn from his strength conditioning course. Rashid took five for 87 and scored 52 not out as Yorkshire drew with Essexin Division 1. That is Rashid's third successive championship five for and he has now amassed 24 wickets in those three matches - a rich vein of form indeed.

Elsewhere, Ravi Bopara continued his resurgence in form with a hundred in each innings in the aforementioned clash with Yorkshire. He too must be in serious contention for a place in England's Ashes squad. Monty Panesar also is right back in form, taking his second successive five for (including the wicket of England captain Andrew Strauss) as Sussex just failed to beat Middlesex in Division 2.

Other notable performances included a swashbuckling hundred from Rory Hamilton-Brown in Surrey's innings victory over Northants plus fifties from James Taylor and Alex Hales for Leicestershire against Glamorgan and Notts in their win over Warwickshire respectively.

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fare over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We recently extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix. 

It's Spin City as Rashid and Panesar impress

The race for the Reverse Sweep County Player of the Year Award heated up this week as Adil Rashid and Monty Panesar spun their sides to victory in the County Championship.

Rashid took his season's tally to 42 wickets with nine for 208 in the match as Yorkshire returned to the top of the Division 1 table. With Steve Finn still on his strength conditioning course (which, will doubtless last until Ricky Ponting and his men board their Qantas jet back to Sydney), Rashid takes over at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, Panesar took his first five for since September 2008 as he inspired his side Sussex back to the top of the Division 2 table. Both will be eyeing a spot in the Ashes squad and are surely each a better bet than James Tredwell as a potential second spinner at Adelaide and Sydney?

Regular visitors to this site will know that just before the start of the county season, we named our dozen players to watch (see Part 1 and Part 2 here). We thought it would be fun to see how the 12 fare over the 2010 season, so devised what is probably a flawed points system to help assess their progress. We recently extended this list to 16, adding Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, James Hildreth and Ben Stokes to the mix.

Elsewhere, Ravi Bopara and Andrew Gale took advantage of their opportunities with England A to make a move up the table. Bopara had an extraordinary match against West Indies A hitting 168 and then taking four for 43 - surely he should be playing as the number six in the full England ODI side? Gale hit 90 in the final as England A beat India A to the title.

Finally, the immensely promising Sam Northeast hit a fifty for Kent against Hampshire, but all to no avail as Kent slipped to a heavy defeat.

Player	County	Played	Points		Points awarded*
Rashid	Yorkshire	10	132		County Appearance	5
Finn	Middlesex	7	129		Lions Appearance	10
Kieswetter	Somerset	18	107		Test appearance	20
Gale	Yorkshire	12	104		T20I/ODI/Lions one day	3
Taylor	Leics	12	101		Score of 40-49	3
Hildreth	Somerset	8	90		50-99	5
Bopara	Essex	10	88		100-199	10
Woakes	Warks	11	84		200+	20
Stokes	Durham	8	76		3 wickets in an innings	3
Panesar	Sussex	9	74		4 wickets	5
Hamilton-Brown	Surrey	9	73		5 or 6 wickets	10
Northeast	Kent	9	66		7wickets+	20
Hales	Notts	4	38		Catches	1
Tremlett	Surrey	5	38		Stumpings	3
Wainwright	Yorkshire	4	24
Borthwick	Durham	4	22