What fun the new-format County Championship is turning out to be. Covid has been horrid, but live streaming has saved the day, given us new pleasures. If your game of choice is not too engrossing, or has finished early, just fly over to Trent Bridge, or Southampton, or Old Trafford, as I did.
At Trent Bridge, I watched an old favourite Tim Bresnan steer Warwickshire home in a tight finish. At the Ageas Bowl, I saw Craig Overton and Josh Davey swing it round corners to prise out determined Hampshire. Davey’s dismissal of Liam Dawson was one of the highlights of the season so far. At Old Trafford, Luke Procter fought a wonderful, if unsuccessful, battle against his former County.
I have seen new players, men I might never have set eyes on but for the current situation. And I have seen old players in a new light. I will declare my interest and start with Yorkshire. The rest of the article can then be disinterested (as opposed to uninterested).
Harry Brook: his figures don’t add up. He played a lot of first class cricket very young, and failed at the top of the order. One glorious century at Chelmsford showed the potential; a lot of low scores merely illustrate how difficult it is against County pros, and the Duke, early summer. Last year in the BWT he did well, and he is doing well again. Remember the name!
Jordan Thompson: a left-handed batsman whom I saw make two centuries and three ducks, three years ago, in the 2nd XI. An exciting, if flawed batsman, only an occasional bowler, in Yorkshire’s eyes, at that stage. Now, in 2021, we fans are arguing whether Thompson, or Coad, or Patterson, is Yorkshire’s best bowler. Lovely fieldsman too, great potential.
It has also been a joy to watch Adam Lyth back in the runs, to see Gary Ballance merely playing again, and to welcome Dom Bess on a permanent basis. I first saw Bess as a teenage off-spinner during a wonderful game of cricket at Taunton. Now, I think I have seen another, just as exciting, almost as young.
Down to Hove we fly. If any County has a brilliant bunch of youngsters, that team is Sussex. The off-spinner in question is Jack Carson, twenty years old, Irish born and talent-spotted at an early age by Ed Joyce. Like Bess, be bowls with astonishing maturity, and he will bat well too, I am sure, on the evidence of just one innings.
Tom Haines: Sussex lad, only 22, neat, stylish left-hander. I had never even heard of him, but I have now. He has begun the season with 492 runs at just under 50. He looks a really good player, and so does Tom Clark, not far behind him.
Then there’s a whole host of teen quick bowlers down there: Sean Hunt, Henry Crocombe and Jamie Atkins, along with the more mature Ollie Robinson, who had a brief Yorkshire stint. Robinson looks the real deal, a raw-boned English fast-medium seamer, who can bat too. Pick him! His time is now.
I saw James Bracey play, briefly, on-line during the BWT. Now he is scoring heavily again, yet another left-hander! They used to be rare. Yet another is Warwickshire’s Rob Yates, who has an old-fashioned look about the way he plays, straight and solid in defence, compact, organised. I hope they’re watching him. Then there’s Billy Root, who got a hundred on his return to Headingley.
Root jnr will probably not feature in selectors’ thoughts, but there are a couple of Glamorgan players who might. There’s Welsh-born, right-handed Kiran Carlson, who has begun the season well, and looks a good bat, with an array of wristy strokes, and there Dan Douthwaite, an all-action product of the Surrey club, originally. He seems to bowl with a bit of pace, and looks a player of character.
I’ll finish with Northamptonshire, who look a really good side this year. Ricardo Vasconcelos, a name to struggle with, but a batsman to enjoy: I saw a bit of him at Old Trafford in 2019, but it was his batting at Headingley the other day that made me sit up. Another really fine player. Then there’s Saif Zaib. Both are small left-handers. Perhaps I just like small left-handers. Graham Thorpe was one of my favourite players, and they’re everywhere! Finally a player who is neither small, nor left-handed, nor a batsman, nor particularly young. I watched Ben Sanderson when he was a teenager on the Yorkshire 2nd XI, and he looked the one most likely to. He got into the first team then, suddenly, he was gone. We supporters are not privy to what goes on, we don’t see players on a daily basis, but I was sad when he left.
I am just as delighted with his success now. He is a really good, no-nonsense County bowler, and Yorkshire’s loss has been Northants’ gain.
So, that’s it, a snapshot of the season so far. I have seen only a small selection of the delights on offer, and I am sure the ‘Comments’ will swell the ranks of players. County cricket is back, and it is superb.
Dave Morton
Makes such a difference when you have a run of county games with ok weather. You can get a good look at so many players and make some sort of reliable assessment. Lovely to have county games and one dayers separated, so players get a chance to develop their different format skills separately and don’t keep having to chop and change their approach, a killer for the young ones who are still trying to develop particular skills.
Hopefully this fragmenting of the season will be given a chance to see if it works to the benefit of the players.
If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. Love Cricket!
Dream 11 IPL 2021 has been scheduled between 09th April 2021 and 30th May 2021. The opening match will be played on 09th May 2021 between the Mumbai Indians (MI) Vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) which will be played in Wankhede Stadium Mumbai, Maharashtra. Final match expected to be played on 30th May 2021. Here you will get the Schedule, Team, Venue, Time Table, PDF download, Point Table, Ranking & Winning Prediction.
I think your dates are wrong.