AOC does its best to learn some lessons from a whirlwind first few weeks of the county season that have left very little time for reflection.
Spring springs surprises
And plenty of them. Bookies’ favourites Somerset began the campaign with an astonishing defeat to Warwickshire before suffering another thumping by an innings to Lancashire. At the time of writing that leaves Lancashire and Warwickshire setting the pace in Division One, despite pre-season odds suggesting they would be among the relegation contenders.
The waters are perhaps even more muddied in Division Two, where pre-season favourites Essex prop up the table after two defeats and a draw, despite having the services of England duo Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara for the early weeks of the season. Middlesex were the only team to boast a 100 per cent record after the third round of fixtures but it would take a brave man to place a wager on the two sides to gain promotion this season.
The CB40 has also provided plenty of thrills and spills and several nail biting finishes. The Netherlands have been the surprise package so far, building on their promising World Cup form to dish out two defeats in as many days to Yorkshire and Derbyshire, respectively.
There’s young talent aplenty in the English game
England’s young pretenders have wasted little time making their mark this season with Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid all turning in eye-catching performances to add to their burgeoning reputations. Stokes smashed five consecutive sixes off Hampshire’s Liam Dawson on his way to an unbeaten 135 in Durham’s opening Championship fixture before returning career-best figures of 6-68 in the same match. Look out for an interview with the immensely talented allrounder in the next issue of AOC.
Woakes has been arguably even more impressive, hitting his fourth first-class ton and taking nine wickets in Warwickshire’s win over Somerset and claiming a further six scalps against Worcestershire, while Rashid bowled Yorkshire to victory over the same opposition with a career-best 11-wicket haul.
Jos Buttler is another young Englishman with a bright future ahead of him and demonstrated his strokemaking ability with a brutal 56-ball 94 in Somerset’s CB40 win over Nottinghamshire.
A couple of lesser-known names have also emerged in the opening weeks of the season. Essex’s 17-year-old paceman Reece Topley already looks a fearsome prospect and topped the first-class wicket-taking table going into the fourth round of Championship fixtures, while Sussex left-hand batsman Luke Wells showed great maturity in guiding his side to a tense win over Durham, the 20-year-old registering his maiden first-class ton in the process.
County cricket takes a bit of getting used to
While several young bucks have been making county cricket look like a stroll in the park, some experienced overseas campaigners have found the going considerably tougher as they try to find their feet in English domestic cricket. Neither Warwickshire nor Lancashire appeared to have too much trouble deciphering the mystery spin of Ajantha Mendis, who went around the park and took four wickets at 71.25 apiece as Somerset began the Championship season with consecutive innings drubbings.
Meanwhile, Essex’s international recruit Lonwabo Tsotsobe was so despondent after returning figures of 2-154 on his county debut that the South African seamer lost his love for the game entirely, tweeting ‘Hate cricket’ on his Twitter account during the draw with Northants.
Fellow county cricket newbie Glamorgan’s Alviro Petersen hasn’t fared much better with a batting average of a 30.57 from seven innings – a poor return for a South African Test opener playing in English domestic cricket’s second tier – while Australia’s bright young hope Usman Khawaja scored just 45 and 16 on debut in Derbyshire’s defeat to Middlesex.
The exception to the rule is Sri Lankan allrounder Farveez Maharoof, who struck an aggressive ton on his Championship bow for Lancashire before taking three wickets in the CB40 victory over Unicorns on Sunday.
