The Reverse Sweep

County Championship of the week #6

Bilal Shafayat (Hampshire) - The Comeback Kid grabbed his second opportunity with a redemptive zeal at the Rose Bowl even if he fell seven short of a deserved fairytale hundred.

Phil Jaques (Yorkshire) - Powered the second-highest successful chase in Yorkshire's long history with 160 at Bristol.

Michael Lumb (Nottinghamshire) - Continued his stunning immediate impact at Trent Bridge with 162 and 55 in the draw with Middlesex.

Gary Ballance (Yorkshire) - Played the support role to Jaques in their 203 run stand and then timed his acceleration to perfection to reach his own ton and take Yorkshire over the line.

Tom Maynard (Surrey) - Turned the game at New Road on its head together with a magnificent 143 (off 154 balls) as Surrey narrowly failed to win a game after following on for only the second time since 1868.

Darren Stevens (Kent) - Stared ignominy in the face at Chelmsford when his side were 9 for five to strike a beligerent hundred against Essex.

Geraint Jones (Kent) - Kept Stevens company in a 194 run partnership to score 88 - the other nine Kent wickets added just 31 runs.

Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire) - Bagged only his sixth first-class five wicket haul and then struck a quickfire 38 to help Yorkshire beat the clock at Bristol.

Ollie Rayner (Middlesex) - Hit his maiden Championship hundred after going in as nightwatchman at Trent Bridge and remained unbowed on 143 before taking four 2nd innings Notts wickets with his off-breaks. 

Craig Meschede (Somerset) - Took three wickets in each innings as well as hitting a better than a run a ball 62 as the weather denied injury hit Somerset at Chester-le-Street.

Mark Davies (Kent) - Showed his struggling old county what they are missing with a masterful display of seam bowling, which saw him take four Essex wickets for 20 runs in 24.4 immaculate overs at Chelmsford. 

...and a quick word for our 12th man, who with apologies to Rory Hamilton-Brown, who continued his good start to the season with a hundred at New Road, is his young team-mate George Edwards, who impressed on debut with five wickets. Just how deep is Surrey's stock of fast bowlers? 

Where next?

Read our previous County Championship weekly XIs

Nick Compton: runs and jokes at Kevin Pietersen's expense

If at first you don't succeed...

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 1 - Surrey

Promoted on the final day of the season last year, how will County Cricket's equivalent of Manchester City fare back in the top flight?

Strengths

In most cases, it is all about survival for teams in their first season after promotion from Division 2. However, given the strength of Surrey's squad, this may not be the case here. The bowling stocks appear to be as good as any with new signing Jon Lewis making it a quartet of England seam bowlers along with Chris Tremlett, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker. Murali Kartik looks a good choice of overseas player as does Jacques Rudolph who will fill in until Kartik arrives after the IPL. The batting looks just as strong with the evergreen Mark Ramprakash, Rudolph and Zander de Bruyn joined by some tremendously talented young batsmen such as Jason Roy, Tom Maynard, captain Rory Hamilton-Brown and keeper Steven Davies. All in all, Surrey look to have a formidable side on paper.

Weaknesses

The lack of a genuinely top-class opening batsman - although Rudolph can fill in for the first couple of months - could mean Ramprakash and de Bruyn are exposed to the new ball too frequently. The England selectors could come calling on a regular basis, which could test the depth of the squad as could likely injuries to the likes of Tremlett.

Main man

Whilst Tremlett (if fit) is likely to play more games than last season given his likely slip down the pecking order of England seamers and Maynard looks a great prospect, it's harder to look further than Mark Ramprakash. Injuries and a subsequent meagre return of runs (by his lofty standards) may have plagued him last season, but the challenge of scoring runs in Division 1 is likely to revive him.

Look out for

Some partcularly quick, green and bouncy Oval tracks - with a seam quartet like this, it would be silly not to play to their strengths. 

Prediction

3rd - They could go all the way and will certainly go close to lifting the title, but not quite this year in our view.

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

Mark Ramprakash: English cricket’s great lost talent

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

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown

County Championship Preview 2011 - Surrey 

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

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

Graduated with first-class honours

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

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

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

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

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

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

Graduated with second-class honours

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scraped a pass

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

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

Back to school

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

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

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

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

Where next?

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

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

Read all our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown

We all know what it's like to spend an absolute fortune at the supermarket and then having unpacked everything at home realised we have forgotten something fundamental such as the milk.

Rory Hamilton-Brown had to cope with this and a whole heap of other challenges on succeeding to the Surrey captaincy at the beginning of the 2010 season.

If it wasn't enough that he was given what appeared to be a poisoned chalice for one so young with only a handful of first-class matches under his belt, Hamilton-Brown also had to contend with inverse snobbery of the worst kind with barbs regularly being aimed at his name, his public school background and even scurrilous rumours that his father dropped him off by helicoptor.

So when Chris Adams went shopping at the sales and came back with a whole new team minus any opening batsmen, Hamilton-Brown could have been forgiven for accepting that his task of rejuvenating Surrey was as impossible as climbing Everest in a Hackett shirt, a pair of boating shoes and a broken oar.

But Hamilton-Brown proved to be a tougher and shrewder leader than anyone could have predicted. He took on the added responsibility of opening the batting himself and topped 1,000 runs in the Championship. Moreover, he inspired raw charges such as Tom Maynard, Jason Roy, Tim Linley and Stuart Meaker to fully demonstrate their abilities. 

Surrey's charge to promotion was also made without the usual banker of runs aplenty from Mark Ramprakash. That is another string in Hamilton-Brown's bow.

The cherry on the cake was Surrey's deserved success in the Clydesdale Bank Trophy where perhaps fittingly it was the skipper's 78 off just 62 balls that saw Somerset deprived of a trophy once again.

Old Grizzly Adams reckons that Hamilton-Brown will captain England one day. We're not too sure about that, but the Surrey skipper has proved once and for all that he is a talented cricketer and a natural leader of men. He may just want to accompany Adams next time he goes shopping to ensure that he has an opening batsman at his disposal next summer.

Where next?

See our other posts featuring Rory Hamilton-Brown 

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry

County Championship 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 

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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

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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Our 10 County Players to watch in 2011: Half-term report (2 of 3)

 
Continuing our half-term report on the ten players we nominated to watch in 2011 at the start of the season, we move to numbers 7-5 (as ranked  in order of ascending performance):

See also Part 1 - Adam Lyth, Jos Buttler and Danny Briggs

7. Jade Dernbach (Surrey) (Championship: 13 wickets at 36.61, CB40: 8 wickets at 17.12, ER 4.56)

Despite a stop-start season and fairly mediocre returns in the Championship, Dernbach was called into the England squad for the Lord’s Test with Sri Lanka. A nine-wicket haul for the Lions and a fiery performance against Leicestershire at The Oval probably sealed his elevation. The adopted South African will likely make his international bow in the forthcoming ODI series.

Verdict: C – must show more consistency for Surrey.

6. Adil Rashid (Yorkshire) (Championship: 262 runs at 20.15; 28 wickets at 33.78. CB40: 64 runs at 64.00, SR 95.52; 10 wickets at 17.90, ER 4.71)

The leggie started the season like a train with 11 wickets at Worcester. But like Yorkshire, has flattered to deceive since - even if he has still got his fair share of wickets. Reached a season nadir with 0/88 (in just 10 overs) and 0/187 in successive innings last week against Somerset and Sussex. Batting has also been disappointing. Has performed better in the CB40 where he has a current strike rate of a wicket every 22.8 balls.

Verdict: C+ – Expect him to get better on later season wickets in the Championship and watch out for a possible call-up to the England ODI squad.

5. Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey) (Championship: 587 runs at 48.91, CB40: 117 runs at 23.40, SR 101.73)

Despite many people being eager for public school educated Hamilton-Brown to fail, he is Surrey’s top run scorer in the Championship thus far despite also bravely volunteering to open. RHB isn’t doing too badly as captain either with Surrey handily placed for a promotion bid in the Championship and proud holders of a 100% record in the CB40.

Verdict: B – Could this be the season when a young captain leads Surrey out of the doldrums?

Where next?

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

An England under-23 XI - the future looks bright

Matt Prior's Desert Island Discs

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 #7

 
Chris Nash (Sussex) – First Championship ton of the season after six fifties, and it was a vital one too as Sussex chased down a tricky target of 275 at Hove. Is now the leading run scorer in Division 1 with 656 runs at 54.66. Second successive appearance in our XI.

Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey) – In a team bereft of openers, it was the skipper who took the responsibility of moving up the order to face down Essex’s total of 548. RHB’s 159 off 195 was therefore even more impressive than the score already suggests. One of our ten to watch in 2011.

Ian Bell (Warwickshire) – Warmed up for the Sri Lanka Tests and showed his immense class with 139 against a strong Notts attack featuring England colleagues Broad and Swann.

Gordon Muchall (Durham) – Struck his first ton of the season with his 175 being the base from which Durham dominated against Worcestershire at New Road.

Alex Gidman (Gloucestershire) – Pips Ian Blackwell and team mate Kane Williamson to the final batting spot for his fluent 168 (off 244 balls) at Grace Road – a week after his brother also made our weekly CC XI.

Graham Napier (Essex) – World Record equaling performance with 16 sixes in a first-class innings And 172 runs came in boundaries in his 130 ball 196. Phenomenal. Cricket’s Six Million Dollar Man?

Phil Mustard (Durham) – Put Durham out of sight at New Road with 101 and then marshalled his bowlers well to earn an innings victory.

James Harris (Glamorgan) – Eight wickets at Lord’s including that of Andrew Strauss to ease pain over Lions omission and send Glamorgan second in Division 2.

Naved-ul-Hasan (Sussex) – 10 for 161 in the match kept Sussex in the game – his potency proving the main difference between the sides as pre-season favourites Somerset were beaten at Hove.

Gary Keedy (Lancashire) – 10 wickets in the Roses match to put a buoyant Lancashire top of the table. Match figures of 77.3-14-177-10 make him the most deserving selection in this XI.

Steve Harmison (Durham) – Grabs the final spot in our XI ahead of Boyd Rankin and James Anyon for his seven wickets at Worcester. If he stays fit, Durham could challenge for the title they won in 2008 and 2009.

Where next?

Farewell and a tribute (of sorts) to Shane Warne

Cricket XIs: Cricketing Criminals 

County Championship XI of the week #6

County Championship XI of the week #5

County Championship XI of the week #4

County Championship XI of the week #3

County Championship XI of the week #2

County Championship XI of the week #1

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

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KP's Summer of Cricket Diary #4

 
Hello again peeps, the big match starts today at Fenner's when Surrey take on Cambridge.

I'm really looking forward to such an important game, which our boy captain tells me is absolutely crucial to our season - hence why they need the great KP to play.

At first I thought it wasn't a County Championship match so didn't want to play, but captain Robbie (or is it Rodney?) told me that Cambridge had been made a new first-class county in honour of the Royal Wedding of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Makes sense I suppose, and our boy captain is practically royalty, so he should know.

I think it's great that the ECB are following the lead of the IPL and creating new franchises too - I always thought that there weren't enough teams in the County Championship. If the Premier League has 20 sides, than so should we.

Robbie (or maybe it's Richy?) also tells me that Cambridge is the site of a world famous university. To be honest, I don't know much about universities and can't say I've ever heard of Cambridge University. But hey, I'm looking forward to the ride up in Robbie's (or is it Randy's?) Dad's helicopter.

Wish me luck peeps.

Where next?

Read all the excerpts of KP's Summer of Cricket Diary

County Championship XI of the week #5

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

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

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County Cricket Preview - Players to watch: Rory Hamilton-Brown

 
Having plunged in at the deep end by taking the Surrey captaincy at the age of just 22, Hamilton-Brown performed creditably in his first season in the role - even if there was not much improvement in Surrey’s performance.

Now a year older and wiser, and with the county having been further strengthened over the winter, Hamilton-Brown will be looking to lead Surrey back into Division 1.

As a batsman, Hamilton-Brown is an exciting prospect, but was too inconsistent last season. There were glimpses of his talent with two championship hundreds and some impressive hitting in the limited overs games, but his overall championship return of 808 runs at 30 was a tad disappointing.

If he can rein back his aggressive nature, then Hamilton-Brown should have a better season personally. If he continues to impress in the 40 over and T20 formats he may come onto the radar of the England selectors, not only for his batting but also perhaps as a left-field choice as captain to build for the 2015 World Cup.

Forget the snide remarks about his privileged background and double-barrel name, Hamilton-Brown is a decent cricketer.

Where next?

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

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

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

2010 County XI of the season

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County Championship Preview - Division 2: Surrey

 
Finishing seventh last summer would have come as a severe disappointment after heavy investment the previous winter. Surrey have again welcomed several new recruits for 2011 in Tom Maynard, Yasir Arafat, Kevin Pietersen and Zander de Bruyn so will the forthcoming summer see an upturn in fortunes?

Strengths

A top six comprising Mark Ramprakash, Pietersen, de Bruyn, the immensely promising Jason Roy, Steven Davies and head prefect Rory Hamilton-Brown looks impressive, although Surrey fans shouldn’t expect to see too much of KP.

The bowling looks good too with Chris Tremlett, Yasir Arafat, Jade Dernbach, Gareth Batty and Stuart Meaker plus having Chris Jordan back from injury will be like having another new player.

Weaknesses

Can this collection of individuals be gelled into a team? Tremlett, Pietersen and possibly Davies and Dernbach are likely to miss several games due to international duty.

Main man

If his back holds up expect the imperious Mark Ramprakash to continue his astonishing exploits with the bat. Enjoy it whilst you can, because even this evergreen 41 year old cannot go on much longer. Surely?

Look out for…

KP getting lost en route from Chelsea to The Oval and heaven forbid if he has to get to Guildford – that’s nearly in Hampshire!

Prediction

3rd – A hugely improved season but just missing out on promotion

Where next?

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

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

 

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. 

Rory Hamilton-Brown is 'Straight Outta Surrey'

We came across this the other day. Judging by the accent, is it Rory Hamilton-Brown in disguise?

 

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