The Reverse Sweep

County Championship 2012 Preview: Division 1 - Lancashire

Champions after a positively biblical 77 year long famine - can Lancashire repeat the trick in 2012?

Strengths

In 2011 shrewd management and an impressive never-say-die spirit helped an unusually starless Lancashire side be far greater than the sum of its parts. Talismanic skipper Glen Chapple, Kyle Hogg, Sajid Mahmood and the odd cameo from James Anderson are a mighty fine seam quartet. This is backed up by old stager Gary Keedy and new hand Simon Kerrigan in the spin department. The acquisition of Ashwell Prince for the whole season (notwithstanding the possibility of a call-up to the South African squad touring England this summer) could prove crucial in the final reckoning.

Weaknesses

Whilst the likes of Stephen Moore, Paul Horton, Karl Brown and Stephen Croft are dependable enough with the bat only the first two topped 1,000 Championship runs in 2011 (and then only by 13 and 40 runs respectively), so the Champions appear to lack heavy scorers. Perhaps more pertinent is that retaining the Championship is extremely difficult. 

Main man

It will be interesting to see how Prince shapes up and the extent of Kerrigan's development as a potential England bowler, but it is the redoubtable Glen Chapple that has to take centre stage - he was inspirational as leader of the 2011 side and has taken 231 championship wickets at 21.16 in the last five seasons. If he can stay fit (and that is a big 'if') then a repeat of last season's triumph can not be ruled out.   

Look out for

How a return to their Old Trafford home affects their chances. How many times will Lancashire be foiled by the notoriously poor Manchester weather or a benign pitch?

Prediction

2nd - Will go close to retaining their crown, but will fall just a little bit short in the final reckoning.

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

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

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Glen Chapple

County Championship 2011 Preview - Lancashire 

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Cricket memories of 2011: Lancashire win the County Championship

The famine had lasted  apositively biblical 77 years. 

The last time that Lancashire had won the County Championship outright was 1934. That was the year some bloke with a Charlie Chaplin comedy moustache was made Führer of Germany and enacted the Night of the Long Knives, blonde bombshell Brigitte Bardot was born and England relinquished the Ashes they had won in the Bodyline series just 18 months before.

In short, it had been a bloody long time.

Confidence cannot have been high at Old Trafford at the outset of the season, but an unfancied bunch of local lads defied the odds and did what their illustrious predecessors who had worn the Red Rose for several generations couldn’t to take the title in a thrilling final-day climax at Taunton.

Victory was all the sweeter because renovations at Old Trafford had forced them to play their home matches at outgrounds – mostly Aigburth – and best of all their triumph coincided with the relegation of bitter rivals Yorkshire.

One of the features of Lancashire’s success was the fact that it was a team effort, but the coaching of Peter Moores, runs of Stephen Moore, the spin combination of Keedy and Kerrigan and the wickets of Kyle Hogg warrant special mention. Most of all though it was the captain Glen Chapple who best epitomised the team’s spirit with his 55 wickets at under 20 and useful runs coming despite him effectively having one leg thanks to continual injury problems.

Links to some of our stories about Lancashire’s remarkable triumph follow and if you want to relive the season, you could do a lot worse than purchasing  “Champions... About Bloomin' Time”, which celebrates their glorious season.

Where next?

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

County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Glen Chapple

The Reverse Sweep's County Cricket 2011 Awards

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

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

Predicting the County Championship and a bucket load of rotten tomatoes

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 XI of the season

Picking the best XI players from what has been another thrilling County Championship season is no easy thing, hence our naming separate teams for Division 1 and Division 2 earlier in the week.

But in our column this week for All Out Cricket, we've taken the plunge and bravely picked our composite XI for the season - check out First XI Amongst Equals to see if you agree (or more likely vehementally disagree) with us.

Where next?

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

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

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

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

Read our 2011 County Championship XIs of the week

Read all our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship Division 1 XI of the season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where next?

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

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

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

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

Read our 2011 County Championship XIs of the week

Read all our County Cricket coverage

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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

 
Do they know it's Christmas?

No one likes to see their fellow human beings stricken with starvation – you only need to see what happened after Michael Buerk’s famous BBC News report from Ethiopia in 1984 was aired to see evidence of that. Lancashire’s County Championship famine had lasted 77 long and painful years. That is positively biblical, so unless you come from Yorkshire (or perhaps Warwickshire), one cannot fail to be glad for Glen Chapple and his band of merry men.

The rehabilitation of Peter Moores

As Sussex supporters, we will be eternally grateful for Moores's role in leading Sussex to their first County Championship in 2003 after 113 years of trying. His methods may not have worked with England, but Moores is undoubtedly a fine coach. Now that he has led Lancashire to the promised land too, his CV looks even more remarkable.

Liverpool 1 Manchester 0

We’ve always wondered why Lancashire plays most of its cricket matches in Manchester – perhaps the most dreary and rainy place in the country and home to pitches that are even less likely to produce results than your average sub-continental wicket. What else other than the weather could Morrissey have been lamenting about in Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now? A move along the M62 to Aigburth to the Mersey Paradise of Aigburth has worked absolute wonders and demonstrated the value of outgrounds to other counties.

Glen Chapple – the new Black Knight

Just like the infamous Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Glen Chapple simply refused to die. He may have only had one leg, but Chapple shrugged it off doubtless declaring “Tis but a scratch” and continued to bowl taking three Somerset wickets in the second innings. This do or die approach epitomised Lancashire’s season, so it was entirely fitting that the limbless Chapple became the first Lancashire captain in 77 years to lead his side to the County Championship. OBEs have been handed out for less.

The War of the Roses

It won’t have gone unnoticed in Lancashire that as their team were crowned Champions, acrimony and infighting were firmly on the agenda at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, with the Chairman being particularly non-complimentary about his players after ignominious relegation to Division 2. The last time Lancashire won the title in 1934, it coincided with Hitler’s brutal purge of the SA in the Night of the Long Knives. Expect something similar at Headingley this winter – neutrals and Lancastrians everywhere will watch with interest and in the case of the latter, no doubt a little glee.

Homegrown glory

With the exception of Stephen Moore and a few cameos from Farveez Maharoof, the bulk of Lancashire’s side were homegrown stars born within the borders of the county – Chapple may hail from Skipton, but surely he is an honorary Lancastrian by now? In the days of Kolpaks, non-box office overseas stars and transfers between counties, this was both a timely and refreshing reminder that counties should perhaps look closer to home in developing their own talent and thus create the indomitable spirit that carried Lancashire to glory.

Saved from the stocks

We’ll write a post in the next few days reflecting on what were a disastrous set of predictions by the Reverse Sweep at the outset of the season. But suffice to say, we were relieved that Warwickshire – one of our tips for relegation – didn’t prevail in the final reckoning. That surely would have meant a spell in the stocks and lots of rotten vegetables coming our way. There again we did predict that Lancashire would finish seventh...

Hope for Somerset

Perennial bridesmaids Somerset need look no further than Lancashire for inspiration in their quest to win a trophy next season. Somerset may have finished second in the last three T20 finals and two 40 over finals, as well as in last year’s Championship. But that is nothing on Lancashire, who since last winning the Championship had finished runners-up eight times. So fear not Marcus Trescothick, your time to hold up one of the game’s big prizes may yet come.

The perfect casserole

The suspense and last minute nature of Lancashire’s triumph meant that our County Championship casserole turned out perfectly. Delia Smith eat your heart out.

It’ll have annoyed Geoffrey Boycott

No further explanation necessary.

Where next?

County Championship XI of the week #19

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves gets straight to the point

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 #19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where next?

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

Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves gets straight to the point

Read all our County Cricket coverage

County Championship XI of the week #18

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where next?

Our Top 20 Cricket Blogs

Cricket XIs: Cricketing Criminals

Read all our County Cricket coverage

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

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

County Championship XI of the week #12

 
The ECB seem to have played pin the tail on the donkey with the fixture list, so inexplicable was the sudden reappearance of the County Championship this week. Nevertheless, we are duty bound to select our XI of the week, so here goes:

Ian Westwood (Warwickshire) – With not even a 50 to his name in 2011, it didn’t need director of cricket Ashley Giles to warn that his former captain’s season had reached a “crossroads”. So by featuring in a 202 opening stand and going on to score his first Championship ton since 2009, Westwood will have hoped to have turned a very important corner.

Stephen Moore (Lancashire) – His first hundred since July 2009 and his maiden one for Lancashire couldn’t have come at a more critical time as his unbeaten 124 steered his side to a tricky victory target of 240 at Trent Bridge.

Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire) – Victories at New Road have proved to be like London buses for the home side and it was Solanki who set up their nine wicket win and second successive home triumph (and only their second in Division 1 since 2004) with a sparkling 173 against basement side Hampshire.

Paul Collingwood (Durham) – Whilst his omission from the England ODI and T20 squads confirmed the end of the international career of England’s working class hero, it was typical of the man to hit a defiant hundred in his first Championship outing of the season. Colly took a couple of wickets too for good measure.

Alex Gidman (Gloucestershire) – In the battle of the captains for the last batting slot in our XI, it is Andrew Gale who has to give way despite his unbeaten 101 steering Yorkshire to safety at the Riverside. Gidman followed up his 1st innings 43 with an unbeaten 76 to lead his side to their target of 161 at The Oval having slipped to a precarious 54/5.

Shakib Al Hasan (Worcestershire) – One of the driving forces behind Worcestershire’s promotion last season came back for a one-off Championship guest appearance. And what a cameo it was, with seven wickets and a quickfire 54 to help lift his side out of the relegation places.

Phil Mustard (Durham) – Made the most of a charmed innings against Yorkshire to crash 70 off just 67 balls to hand Durham the initiative. Now has 436 Championship runs in 2011 at an average of 109 and a strike rate just a touch under 80 as his side lead the way in Division 1.

David Lucas (Northamptonshire) – A stunning match for the left-arm seamer at Grace Road saw him follow up a haul of 4/55 with a career best 60 as nightwatchman, before taking 5/20 as Leicestershire were skittled second time around for 48.

Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire) – A feature of Lancashire’s season is the collective effort of the squad. Even the sometime malfunctioning and misfiring Mahmood stepped up at Trent Bridge with match figures of 10/186 – albeit at over five runs an over - and a handy knock of 46 to help defeat the reigning champs.

Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire) – Alan Richardson and Tim Murtagh may have bagged nine wicket hauls, but it is Rankin who gets into our XI for being acknowledged as the catalyst behind his side’s triumph over Somerset. Rankin’s pace, hostility, bounce and movement hauled his opponents back on a pristine batting wicket with his burst of three wickets for four runs being the decisive act of the game. "Rankin just blew us away," Marcus Trescothick admitted afterwards.

Ian Saxelby (Gloucestershire) – The 22 year old grabbed career best figures of 6/69 and the first ten wicket match haul of his career as Gloucestershire surprised Surrey sans walk-on girls at The Oval.

Where next?

Read all our County Cricket coverage

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

Strauss’s Somerset stint is a sad indictment of county cricket

Gideon Haigh eulogises Test cricket and compares it to The Pixies

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

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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