The Reverse Sweep

County Championship XI of the week #15

Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) – Fifth Championship ton of the season set his side on the way to victory against leaders Durham to blow the title race wide open. Has now usurped Mark Ramprakash as County Cricket’s run plunderer extraordinaire.

Will Smith (Durham) – Carried his side’s batting at Taunton with 74 and then 114 when Durham followed on. Alas for Smith, his heroics were in vain.

Neil McKenzie (Hampshire) – On a pitch where Adam Voges was the only other batsman to reach 50, McKenzie’s 235 ball 97 not out was a mighty impressive knock.

Chris Taylor (Gloucestershire) – Fluent 196 against Kent helped his side to a big victory and enhanced their promotion prospects.

Tom Maynard (Surrey) – Blistering 141 off just 101 balls helped Surrey at least set a target after following on against Middlesex.

Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire) – Took a career best seven for 68 and match figures of 11 for 111 on a controversial spin-friendly Rose Bowl pitch. 

Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire) – In a week where few keepers shone with the bat, it was Ambrose’s 73 against his former county that stood out.

Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) – Continued his fine season with bat and ball by scoring 74 and taking six wickets in the win over Sussex. His all-round performance gets him the nod ahead of Rick Pyrah, whose remarkable hundred transformed the Roses match into a truly gripping contest.

Jeetan Patel (Warwickshire) – Put Sussex in a spin at Edgbaston with match figures of 10 for 168 after scoring a quickfire 65 - a victory which has put Warwickshire firmly in the title mix-up

Kyle Hogg (Lancashire) – Reduced Yorkshire to 42 for eight in their 1st innings with five wickets and then after a stunning fightback by the home team revived his side by top scoring with 52 in their 2nd innings before picking up two further wickets.

Tim Murtagh (Middlesex) – The veteran seamer sent Surrey packing at Guildford with a ten wicket match haul to keep his side in the hunt for promotion.

Where next?

Read all our County Cricket coverage

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

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

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

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County Championship XI of the week #8

 
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) – Hundreds in each innings against Yorkshire, and his brutal 2nd innings knock of 151 (off just 131 balls) led Somerset’s charge to victory. Narrowly failed to reach cricket’s Holy Grail.

Alviro Petersen (Glamorgan) – When we made-up with the Glamorgan captain after our spat on Twitter, we implored him to score a double hundred. He did just that at The Oval in what by all accounts was a wonderful innings. Good on you, Alviro.

Will Smith (Durham) – A sad tale with a happy ending. Smith abruptly resigned the Durham captaincy halfway through 2010 and didn’t play again last summer. But he is back now and his 179 set up an innings victory against Warwickshire.

Karl Brown (Lancashire) – The likes of Dale Benkenstein, Usman Khawaja and Sam Robson may have scored tons, but Brown’s anchoring innings of 96 on a tricky Rose Bowl pitch gets him the nod for this XI.

Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire) – His golden summer continued with 136 and 80 in the defeat at Taunton. A good long-term bet to eventually replace Matt Prior in the Test side.

Andrew McDonald (Leicestershire) – The game with the Division 2 leaders may have petered out to a draw, but not before McDonald had exhibited his all-round abilities with 164 and 51 not out with the bat and three wickets in Northamptonshire’s only innings.

Ben Stokes (Durham) – Normally more of a batting all-rounder, but starred with the ball at Edgbaston taking seven wickets as Warwickshire were trounced by an innings. One of our ten to watch in 2011.

Adil Rashid (Yorkshire) – In a poor week for spinners, Rashid bagged four first innings wickets and then an unbeaten 51 at Taunton. However, his is a fortunate selection given that he went for 88 in 10.1 wicketless overs in the second innings as he was punished severely by Trescothick.

Kyle Hogg (Lancashire) – Took a stunning 11 for 59 as the leaders cruised to victory at the Rose Bowl including a first innings seven for 28. Not bad for his first Championship outing of the season.

Tim Murtagh (Middlesex) – Eight wickets in the match to nearly help Middlesex to victory at Chelmsford.

Ashley Shaw (Kent) – The 20 year old bagged a five-fer on Championship debut at Canterbury.

Where next?

Marcus Trescothick so close to cricket's Holy Grail

County Championship XI of the week #7

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

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep