With the same of the County Championship starting on Friday, it’s a good sign that Summer is on it’s way and the rain will be following it soon!
Anyways, which players and/or teams are you expecting to make a name for themselves this summer? Will England’s poor ODI form continue? Will Bazball live on or die? Will Surrey maintain their hold on all of the Championships?
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I’d imagine Surrey will continue their grip on the County Championships. They’re one of the only clubs that manages the finances well, and The Oval is a gold-mine with Internationals and T20s. They’re the mid-90s Man United of Cricket right now.
Surrey are the Man City of the Champo. Huge squad, loads of internationals right at the top of the salary cap, which is increased for them with ‘London weighting’ versus counties outside London. Fair play to them they are an excellent outfit but it’s hard to see others competing. The T20 and 50 over comps should be more competitive.
I shall be supporting the massively-underachieving Middlesex CCC for what feels like the 432nd season in a row. I’m very much looking forward to seeing Kane Williamson when he arrives, and think Josh Little may light a few fires in the T20. I have realistic hope for a top two finish in the Championship Div 2 - and it would be good to make a QF in at least one of the white ball comps.
Worcestershire for me. Hopefully popular as a ‘second team’ for lots of people and tipped to finish bottom of county championship division one by just about every media outlet and commentator. A bit like old wycombe?
Come on you pears!
Kent for me, can’t have as bad a season as last year
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Worcester pulled off a bit of a miracle today. Batted for 200 overs in their second innings to claim a draw at Somerset with 9 wickets down…following a brilliant first innings 370 knock by Tom Banton for Somerset.
Bucks are playing a Middlesex 2nd XI at Merchant Taylors’ School today, in a 50 overs game. Bucks are batting first, currently 187-6 off 37 overs.
Scorecard: https://buckscricket.play-cricket.com/website/results/6816132
Great facilities, as you would expect from a public school.
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Bucks 286/16 off 50 overs. Yes, 16 wickets down. It was agreed beforehand that Bucks would bat out the 50 overs, to give batting and bowling practice, so batters came back for a second go. This is no longer a competitive match, it seems. The rain is coming down now, in the innings break.
I’m a Kentish man, so, like @Bayo and @chris I’m hoping for better things this season. They look like beating Middlesex very comfortably today - two wickets down and 24 needed for the second victory of the season. Scoring at 5 an over compared with Middlesex’s 3 an over in their second innings.
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It would be difficult to be worse than last year
Middlesex 232/15 off 48.4 overs when the match finished, so Bucks won by 54 runs under the unusual rules of allowing up to six batters to return to the crease. Useful match practice, and for Bucks, Aum Raykar hit a breezy 38 off 32, Danny Chapman 42 off 61, and Conner Haddow took 4-30 off 7. His classy spin was too much for the young Middlesex batters.
https://buckscricket.play-cricket.com/website/results/6816132
Some interesting results in the first 2 rounds of the County Championship and some impressive personal figures too! Tom Banton and John Simpson already have over 300 runs to their name while Luis Reece already have 13 wickets.
Homegrown lad, Saif Zaib has the best bowling average for Northamptonshire and should get noticed by at least one of the National Squads this summer, maybe as a replacement for Liam Livingstone?!