The Reverse Sweep

Who should bat at six for England?

It may not have quite attained quite the same gravitas as other great questions of our time such as Boris or Ken, Redknapp or Hodgson, or indeed Who shot JR, but with the 1st Test against West Indies just one week away, the identity of England’s number six is the topic of fevered speculation – well it is in our neck of the woods anyway.

So, what better for our latest piece for All Out Cricket then to mull over the likely runners and riders, which include in our view the current Surrey captain (that’ll get the inverse snobs going). Have a read of Who Will Be England’s Number Six? and see whether it will be amongst others Mr Unlucky, Mr Splinter, Mr Orange or Mr Rank-Outsider.

Where next?

Is Ravi Bopara the unluckiest cricketer in the world?

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown

Geoff Boycott's dose of Yorkshire humour on England's 72 all out

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County Championship preview: Our XI to watch in 2012

Last year we selected ten players to watch at the outset of the season and with the exception of Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid, for once our predictions proved pretty accurate. This year, we've opted to name an XI to shine.

Joe Denly (Middlesex, Age 26, First-Class batting average 34.47): Seemed to be the next man in line when he broke into the England limited overs side in the summer of 2009, but then suffered a long barren run until a resurgence in form in the second half of last summer. A change of scenary at Lord's may well add impetous to the revival. 

Joe Root (Yorkshire, 21, 35.03): Impressed many shrewd observers in his rookie season and is a good bet to develop further in his sophomore year. Of all the young batsmen in County Cricket, it is Root who appears to have the assurance, technique and resoluteness required to be a potential successor to Andrew Strauss when he eventually makes way at the top of the order in the Test side.   

James Taylor (Nottinghamshire, 22, 50.38): Looks as classy as a first-class average of 50 would suggest. The move from Grace Road will give him and the England selectors an opportunity to see how he fares against Division 1 bowling attacks. The number six spot in the Test side is up for grabs and a good debut season at Trent Bridge could end with Taylor filling the role.

James Vince (Hampshire, 21, 31.91): Has a look of Michael Vaughan with his classical, upright and attacking style, but has thus far failed to demonstrate the consistent returns his obvious talent would justify. A season in the company of Simon Katich at the Rose Bowl could be just what the young buck needs. 

Tom Maynard (Surrey, 23, 30.98): Made the great leap forward in his first season at The Oval with 1,000 runs in Division 2 at 40 and with three hundreds. An aggressive, fast-scoring batsman who is a good outside bet for England's squad to defend the World T20 in Sri Lanka in September.

Ben Stokes (Durham, 20, bat - 43.64, ball - 37.35): One of our ones to watch in 2010 and 2011, Stokes justified our faith by making a storming start to last season before injury ruled him out for six weeks in mid-summer. Has averaged over 40 with the bat in the last two years and continues to improve with the ball. Just don't call him the new Andrew Flintoff - not yet, anyway.

Adil Rashid (Yorkshire, 24, bat 34.09, ball 34.46): Had a poor 2011 and his progress seems to have stalled, but it must be remembered that this leg spinner is still only 24 and already has 280 first-class wickets under his belt. Whispers of a poor work ethic and inability to develop persist, but we're backing him to come good eventually - a much improved 2012 would be a good start.    

Michael Bates (Hampshire, 21, 15.57): Many including James Foster have raved about his glovework, which is a good enough recommendation for us. However, the young keeper will need to improve significantly on his batting average otherwise like Foster and Chris Read before him a long international career will elude him. 

Stuart Meaker (Surrey, 23, ball 30.07, bat 16.17): Very fast and extremely impressive in Surrey's promotion winning side last season. So much so, that he earned a call up to England's one day squad for the ill fated series in India. With Surrey's potentially lethal attack likely to make a big splash in Division 1, this South African bowler is a good bet for further international honours. 

Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire, 21, ball 24.32): Emerged from the shadow of Gary Keedy to devastating effect by taking nine for 51 in the penultimate game of last season to keep Lancashire's Championship hopes alive. Could well become the first-choice spinner as his side seek to defend their title.   

Reece Topley (Essex, 18, ball 23.55): The 6' 7" bowler took to first-class cricket like a duck to water with 14 wickets in his first three championship matches last season and looks to be a thrilling prospect. With prodigies like Topley around, England's selectors really could be forgiven for believing that fast bowlers grow on English oak trees.

Where next?

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

Our 10 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

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

Division 2 previews: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 2 - Leicestershire

The Nottinghamshire Youth Development Squad had a dreadful season in Division 2 in 2011, finishing bottom by 61 points, winning only one match. However, they did manage to win the Friends Life T20.

Strengths

Difficult. Talking up the Foxes chances in four day cricket is like trying to sound confident about England winning a Test match in Asia. Nevertheless, we can offer that Will Jefferson is a decent batsman, captain Matthew Hoggard will give it his all, new ball partner Nathan Buck is a promising cricketer and Ramnaresh Sarwan is an interesting choice as overseas player.

Weaknesses

The squad actually appears weaker than the one that finished bottom by 61 points in 2011. Their best batsman James Taylor has been whisked off to Trent Bridge - as has Harry Gurney - and the effervescent Paul Nixon has retired. It's high time the county stopped being a feeder club to the greedy harlots residing at Trent Bridge.

Main man

Sarwan certainly has the talent but does he have the appetite any more? So we'll go with Nathan Buck. 2011 saw a disappointing return of 24 championship wickets at 46.50 for the talented youngster, but he looks to have enough about him to get the Nottinghamshire scouts salivating.

Look out for

Scouts and representatives from Nottinghamshire outnumbering the locals at Grace Road.

Prediction

9th - but maybe not as distant a last as last year.

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 - Leicestershire  

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

Who should England pick to face Pakistan?

It's been a long time since England played a Test match - 22nd August to be precise when they completed a resounding 4-0 victory over India at The Oval. 

Since then every other Test playing country - even regrettably Zimbabwe - have been in action whilst the likes of Andrew Strauss have taken to their sofas, inserted their pipes and caught up with the first series of Danish sensation Forbrydelsen (that's The Killing to you and us) on BBC 4. 

England's next assignment as they look to cement their position as the number one ranked side is in the unlikely surroundings of the United Arab Emirates where a three Test series with a rapidly improving Pakistan starts on January 17th in Dubai. 

Whilst there is a whole host of mince pies, mulled wine and other festive delights to negotiate before then, the encounter with Team Misbah will come closer into view with the announcement of the touring party this Friday. 

The selectors don't have any injuries of any significance to worry about but they will need to factor into their deliberations what make-up will be required for the slow turners that will likely be prepared for the 'home' side and their wily spinner Saeed Ajmal. 

England will have to make serious consideration to foregoing their usual six batsmen policy to play two spinners in each of the three Tests. Either that or they retain a four man attack of either three seamers and one spinner or two seamers and two spinners. The squad they name will need to cover each of these eventualities.

With the six frontline batsmen picking themselves, the discussions will centre on identifying the spare batsman, back-up keeper to Matt Prior, two spinners to accompany Graeme Swann and whether to pick four or five seamers.

The spare batsman will probably be Ravi Bopara, although we'd opt for James Taylor. The keeper will be one of Steven Davies (back-up Test keeper in the last touring party, but who hasn't been seen since), Craig Kieswetter or Jonathan Bairstow (who could double up as the spare batsman) with Davies getting our vote as he is the best keeper of the three. 

The choice of seamers will likely be in order of preference James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and if a fifth quick is required Steve Finn with Graham Onions next to step in. 

The most interesting decision will be in the spin department. Monty Panesar is by some distance the second best spinner in the country and also has experience on his side, but the selectors seem to like Scott Borthwick and it cannot be a coincidence that Samit Patel announced only a few days ago that he was withdrawing from the IPL auction to concentrate on securing a Test spot.

Borthwick is a big spinner of the ball, can bat and has the added bonus of being a leg-spinner. If England play a second spinner instead of a sixth batsman than Patel could slot in at seven behind Prior. But both are probably not quite Test class yet, so Panesar plus Patel seems the best option to us. 

Of course this could have been the tour to blood Adil Rashid, but he has fallen out of favour with the selectors and had an erractic season with Yorkshire last summer, so once again he will have to sit on the sidelines.

Make no doubt, Pakistan will be a tough proposition for England - as they were in 2005 just a few weeks after that famous Ashes triumph - and the selectors will need to ensure that Strauss and Andy Flower have the requisite resources and flexibility in the squad to combat the steely Misbah and his rapidly improving Pakistan side. 

Our 17 man squad: Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Taylor, Prior, Davies, Swann, Panesar, Patel, Bresnan, Broad, Anderson, Tremlett and Finn.

Where next?

Andy Flower and the curse of autobiographies

Spot-fixing: What should the ICC do next?

Is this the greatest England XI of the last 30 years?

England v India: England series marks out of 10

The England cricket team's newest recruit from South Africa

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: The Tiflex cricket ball

This post could just as easily have been about David Masters or even Tim Murtagh or Tim Linley, but given the confirmation last week of its untimely demise we'll instead declare the Tiflex cricket ball - something each of the aforementioned three owe some of their success to - a County Cricket hero of 2011.

Cricket was hitherto an equal battle between bat and ball, but that notion has been increasingly eroded as pitches, packed fixture lists and yes, even cricket balls have been heavily weighted towards the batsmen.

The Tiflex cricket ball (perhaps inadvertently) had helped to redress this since it was introduced to Division 2 of the County Championship in 2009. For three seasons now batsmen haven't had it all their own way and a good thing to.

But batsmen do like a good grumble and boy how they have moaned and whined about the Tiflex. 

You see the Tiflex seemed to swing and seam excessively early in an innings - certainly compared to the Dukes ball that has been used in Division 1.

Whilst most of us would be tempted to say diddums and have little or no sympathy for their predicament, the ECB has relented and from next season Dukes balls will be used in both divisions.

This is a shame because one could strongly argue that the Tiflex ball provides a better test of a batsman's technique and perhaps therefore prepares them for facing the better standard of bowler they would encounter should they ever play international cricket. James Taylor for instance may reap the dividends of his three seasons combating the Tiflex if and when he makes his Test debut.

For Masters, Murtagh, Linley and other bowlers of their ilk who put the ball in the right place and wobble it about a bit at around 80 miles per hour, the death of the Tiflex is tantamount to a disaster. Masters took 93 wickets in Division 2 this season at a rather impressive 18.13. One would guess that the odds of him improving on this just got a whole lot longer.

We'll leave the final word to Rob Key who on hearing the news of the Tiflex's demise sent a joyous Tweet to some of his fellow batsmen:

"Ding dong the tiflex is dead @MarkRamprakash @Stevo208 @joed1986 @Gojones623 @ravibopara we can come out of hiding now." 

The Tiflex cricket ball RIP.

Where next?

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Marcus Trescothick

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry

County Championship XI of the season

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

County Championship Division 2 XI of the season

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

County Championship Division 2 XI of the season

 
Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey, Captain) – 1039 runs at 37.10: We’ll probably get it in the neck for this pick, but in our view the boy king (and one of our ten to watch in 2011) had a tremendous season. He took on the challenge and added responsibility of opening the batting with gusto and led his charges back into the top division. Chris Adams reckons his young skipper will captain England one day – we’re not sure about that, but he pips Stephen Peters, Alviro Petersen and the resurgent Joe Denly to an opening berth in this XI.

Sam Robson (Middlesex) – 885 runs at 59.00: His season’s entry was delayed by the presence of Andrew Strauss, but the 22 year old more than made up for the wait with a string of impressive performances to lay a solid foundation for his side’s climb back into the top flight.

Chris Rogers (Middlesex) – 1286 runs at 58.45: His runs propelled Middlesex’s title success and once again left this observer scratching his head as to how the Australian selectors only gave the Victorian just the one solitary Test cap.

Zander de Bruyn (Surrey) – 1383 runs at 55.32; 15 wickets at 39.26: Proved a canny acquisition with four hundreds and nine fifties to be the leading run scorer in the division. Having taking a risk in dropping a division when moving from Taunton, he is now back where he belongs. If that wasn’t enough, he chipped in with some useful wickets too.

Tom Maynard (Surrey) - 1022 runs at 40.88 There’s certainly a Surrey flavour to our batting line-up, with Maynard immediately fulfilling his promise at The Oval following his acrimonious departure from Glamorgan. Of his three Championship hundreds, none would have given him more pleasure than his maiden first-class ton, which came at of all places – Cardiff. Beats Chris Taylor, Will Durston and James Taylor (who despite being the best number four in county cricket was generally a bit below par in the Championship) to the final batting slot.

James Foster (Essex) – 931 runs at 46.55: Stephen Davies and Mark Wallace may have scored more runs, whilst John Simpson also impressed, but Foster’s superiority with the gloves and a decent tally of runs gets our vote.

Will Gidman (Gloucestershire) – 51 wickets at 21.33; 1006 runs at 45.72: Topped the Gloucestershire averages with both bat and ball and was the only player in either division to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 50 wickets. Gareth Berg, Darren Stevens and Andrew Hall also impressed, but it was Gidman who was head and shoulders above the pack.

Stuart Meaker (Surrey) – 44 wickets at 22.56: With the other seamers we’ve picked, we needed a pace weapon and Meaker was anything but mild. His team-mate Tim Linley may have taken more wickets (73 at 18.34), but Meaker’s came from only 10 matches at a strike rate of 38 and it was his devastating spell at Northampton that gave his side the vital initiative in a must-win game. Born in Durban, so seems to have all the qualifications required to play for England too!

David Masters (Essex) – 93 wickets at 18.13: The highest wicket-taker in the country despite playing in a struggling side and an absolute master of line and length, as well as miserliness. Leicestershire’s batsmen must still be having nightmares about his eight for 10 against them in July – one of eight times he took five wickets or more in an innings.

Tim Murtagh (Middlesex) – 80 wickets at 20.98: The primary weapon in Middlesex’s arsenal had a magnificent season taking a wicket every 36.4 deliveries and clearly enjoyed bowling with the Tiflex ball. Will he be as successful next summer with the Duke ball against Division 1 batsmen? Other seamers considered included the wily old Chaminda Vaas (70 wickets at 21.44) and David Balcombe (33 wickets in five matches for Kent at just 17.81).

Pragyan Ojha (Surrey) – 24 wickets at 12.95: What would have been a close battle between Dean Cosker (49 wickets at 33.67) and James Middlebrook (43 wickets at 30.39 as well as 644 runs at 42.93) became no contest after Ojha’s devastating four match spell for Surrey. Four wins , 24 wickets and one promotion later, one has to ask how Amit Mishra was preferred to Ojha in India’s Test squad this summer.

Where next?

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

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

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

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County Championship XI of the week #11: Division 2 Half-Term XI

 
Yesterday we named our County Championship Division 1 Half-Term XI. Today we turn our attention to Division 2 and an XI that seems to be comprised of a number of unsung heroes:

Will Jefferson (Leicestershire): 609 runs at 46.84 – Division 2’s leading runs scorer thus far was once talked about as a possible England player when he was at Essex. Those times have long since gone, but the 31 year old has scored freely in a struggling side.

Chris Rogers (Middlesex): 479 runs at 47.90 – It remains a mystery why the Victorian has played just the one Test, but Australia’s loss has proved to be Derbyshire’s and now Middlesex’s gain. Pips Glamorgan pair Gareth Rees and Alviro Petersen, as well as former team mate Wayne Madsen for his spot.

James Taylor (Leicestershire): 461 runs at 46.10 – Others have scored more runs, but has anyone showed their mettle and had their technigue and bottle tested as much as Taylor did when facing down a fearsome Surrey attack on a rare Oval greentop? Taylor’s innings that day proved once and for all that a long Test career awaits.

Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey, Captain): 587 runs at 48.91 - One of our ten to watch in 2011. Despite the distraction of the captaincy and having volunteered to open, Hamilton-Brown has shone with the bat, is Division 2’s second highest run scorer and has a Sehwagesque strike rate of 78. That Surrey appear to have woken from their slumber and are challenging for promotion makes it a doubly good first half of the season for the young skipper.

Tom Maynard (Surrey): 560 runs at 56.00 – After his explosive departure from Glamorgan, Maynard has really sparkled in his first season at The Oval and had the pleasure of serving his revenge cold by scoring his maiden first-class hundred against his former county at of all places Cardiff.

Niall O’Brien (Northamptonshire): 417 runs at 83.40 – Ireland’s wicketkeeper has ably demonstrated that there is more than one cricketer in the O’Brien family and pips the likes of John Simpson, James Foster and Mark Wallace to wear the gloves in this XI.

James Harris (Glamorgan): 26 wickets at 21.96, 224 runs at 37.33 – Another of our ten to watch in 2011, Harris is developing into a useful bowling all-rounder. Would have more wickets but for injury restricting him to just five Championship matches and pips Will Gidman and Andrew Hall given he is by far the best bowler of the three.

Claude Henderson (Leicestershire): 26 wickets at 28.26, 321 runs at 40.12 – A slightly contentious pick as Glamorgan’s Dean Cosker has taken more wickets to put his side in the promotion shake-up, but Henderson has done well in a struggling side and offers the added bonus of runs in an XI with an otherwise long tail.

Stuart Meaker (Surrey): 23 wickets at 18.78 - Another contentious pick as many would probably go with the old warhorse Chaminda Vaas. But Meaker’s wickets have come in only four games and his phenomenal strike rate of a wicket every 32.4 balls is just too good to ignore.

Jack Brooks (Northamptonshire): 30 wickets at 22.03 – The benefit of opening the bowling with Vaas has been all too clear for Brooks who is having a glorious season thus far to help inspire his side to the top of the table.

David Masters (Essex): 40 wickets at 20.77 – The leading wicket taker in either division, the experienced opening bowler has once again been the model of consistency despite a faltering return to Division 2 for Essex.

Where next?

Geoffrey Boycott apologises to Michael Yardy

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

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

Read our previous 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

County Championship Previews - Division 2: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire,  Kent,  Leicestershire,  Middlesex,  Northamptonshire,  Surrey

County Championship Previews - Division 1:  Yorkshire,  Worcestershire,  Warwickshire, Sussex,  Somerset,  Nottinghamshire,  Lancashire,  Hampshire,  Durham

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2nd Test Preview: Lord's - Imperious England target series win

 
As we wrote earlier in the week in some ways it was no great surprise that England shot Sri Lanka out for 82 on the final afternoon in Cardiff, given that it was the fifth time in the last ten Tests that they have bowled the opposition out for under 100.

Even as typical glass half-full England supporters, it is time for the Reverse Sweep to confidently (this is not hubris you understand) state that England have an embarrassment of riches at the moment.

Cook, Trott and Bell are in the form of their lives and plundering runs for fun. Swann is indisputably the best spinner in the world and to top it all off, Chris Tremlett has been transformed from a meek, awkward and inconsistent fast bowler into the new Curtly Ambrose. Indeed, England are so strong that they can even afford to carry Pietersen and do without their best bowler Anderson.

England also has a bench that is comparable in strength to Barcelona’s with the likes of Finn, Panesar and Bopara all ready to come in if required. The youth team also has immense promise with James Taylor, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid (eventually) all likely to have long Test careers.

Moving back to the 2nd Test at Lord’s, it will be fascinating to see if Sri Lanka can recover with such a short turnaround time from Cardiff. The bowling was shockingly impotent and some of the shots that the batsmen got out to during the collapse were tantamount to dereliction of duty. If Sri Lanka are to get anything out of the match then the bowling will need to be more penetrating (could it be less?) and their star batsmen Sangakkara and Jayawardene will need to produce substantially more than the 44 runs they managed in total at Cardiff.

England on the other hand will be supremely confident of getting the victory they need to secure the series and continue their impressive march towards the summit meeting with India later in the summer.

Likely line-ups

With Anderson injured, the only change in the England XI will see the return of Finn ahead of Jade Dernbach.

Wholesale changes are likely to the Sri Lankan bowling attack with Fernando, Welegedara and Randiv all coming into contention. Coach Stuart Law will also be casting envious eyes towards Northampton where the legendary Chaminda Vaas has just taken a 10 wicket Championship haul against Glamorgan. If another batsman is required, expect Dinesh Chamdimal, who has a first-class average of over 60, to make his Test bow.

Look out for…

Chris Tremlett will be relishing the chance to get stuck into the Sri Lankan batting line-up again after his exploits on Monday. He’s always had the talent, but now seems to have finally acquired the fitness, luck, aggression and most importantly confidence to fully exhibit his wares. Expect him to continue making up for lost time at Lord’s.

Mahela Jayawardene was one of the few to not give his wicket away on Monday and he is too good a batsman not to produce something special at some point during this series. Lord’s the scene of one of his greatest innings in 2006 (and another century in 2002) seems an apt place for this most regal of batsmen to shine.

Previously at Lord’s

2006 – Match drawn

All appeared to be going to plan as England enforced the follow-on after dismissing the tourists for 192 in reply to their 551 for 6 declared. But skipper Jayawardene led the spirited resistance with 119 as Sri Lanka batted out 199 overs for an improbable draw. Replacement captain Flintoff got his sums completely wrong, bowling himself for 51 overs and Hoggard for 46 whilst only using Panesar for 27 overs (despite him taking 2/49 and dismissing two of the top three).  

2002 – Match drawn

This three match series was the first time that Sri Lanka had played more than the solitary Test in England. They started well by getting the better of a drawn opening test at Lord’s. They won the toss and racked up 555/8 declared with Atapattu (185) and Jayawardene (107) both scoring hundreds before dismissing England for 275 and enforcing the follow on. England did what Sri Lanka were to do four years later by batting for 191 overs to post 529/5 declared. Vaughan and Butcher both scored hundreds. This was as good as it got for Sri Lanka as England powered to a 2-0 series win.

Prediction

Sri Lanka to improve but England to secure the series with a comfortable win and Pietersen to score a hundred.

Where next?

England bowling out Sri Lanka for 82 is not such a big surprise

1st Test, Cardiff: England marks out of 10

Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott are just like Barcelona

Cricket Heroes: Jack Hobbs

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

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Eoin Morgan has got "it"

 

We're pretty sure that Roy Orbison didn't have England's adopted Irishman in mind when he penned "You've Got It", but Eoin Morgan definitely has "it".

Despite reportedly falling behind Ravi Bopara in the running to be the replacement for Paul Collingwood in England's Test XI, and having not played a first-class match in 2011 thanks to him prioritising the IPL, Morgan would have given the selectors a timely reminder of his qualities at Derby yesterday.

Whilst Bopara fell for just 17, Morgan racked up a big ton and will be intent on reaching 200 as the Lions resume their innings this morning.

Will Morgan's big hundred have done anything to have changed Andy Flower's mind? Probably not, but Morgan has once again showed that he has the appetite for the big stage and the perfect temperament required to be successful in international cricket - two of the biggest concerns with regards to Bopara.

A borderline decision made even tougher for the selectors and don't count out James Taylor either. He drew the short straw in being asked to open and then compiled a useful 76. As we've said before, the diminuitive Taylor will play 100 Tests - remember where you read it first!

Where next?

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

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

So, Eoin Morgan is a test batsman after all

Lionel Messi & Eoin Morgan - Masters at Work

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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

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

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

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

We’ve had a go at naming our XI:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where next?

County Championship XI of the week #5

Our ten to watch in 2011: Adam Lyth, Jade Dernbach,  Rory Hamilton-Brown, Samit Patel, Alex Hales, Danny Briggs, Ben Stokes, James Harris, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid

An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright

2010 County XI of the season

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County Championship Preview - Division 2: Leicestershire

 
Like Glamorgan, Leicestershire have had 12 months of upheaval. Can they shake this off and challenge for promotion to Division 1?

Strengths

James Taylor is one of the best young batsmen in the game and is a good bet for Test honours in the coming years. Skipper Matthew Hoggard may be past his peak but can still be relied upon for wickets and is the perfect mentor for young Nathan Buck who impressed last season. Andrew McDonald is a good choice as overseas player.

Weaknesses

Taylor apart, the batting is woefully inconsistent - despite the presence of a crop of talented youngsters, which means that the strong positions an impressive bowling attack is likely to forge may be frittered away too frequently.

Main man

Buck looks a decent prospect but it has to be James Taylor – he may be behind the likes of Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and James Hildreth for Paul Collingwood’s old Test place, but a good season may even get him a squad place next winter.

Look out for…

Smiles. These weren’t much in evidence last summer with the much publicised shenanigans at the club, but 2011 should be a much happier and relaxed summer.

Prediction

5th – A possible surprise packet in the promotion stakes if the youngsters flourish, but we expect them to fall short eventually due to the batting.

Where next?

County Championship Previews - Division 2: Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent

County Championship Previews - Division 1:  Yorkshire,  Worcestershire,  Warwickshire, Sussex,  Somerset,  Nottinghamshire,  Lancashire,  Hampshire,  Durham

2010 County XI of the season

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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  

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. 

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.