Belated Review of the Season

Transfer

1383 runs @ 55.32, 4 hundreds + 9 fifties; 15 wickets @ 39.26

311 runs @ 31.10, 7 wickets @26.71

275 runs @ 34.37, 6 wickets @ 24.66

The stats alone are impressive but the positive effect Zander de Bruyn had on Surrey’s season and adverse affect his leaving had on Somerset’s were massive. Steadfast in the middle order for Surrey he helped the youngsters around him express themselves whilst De Bruyn remorsefully accrued runs. An ever present in all forms of the game there is no question in my mind that Surrey would not have been promoted were it not for the efforts of De Bruyn. Somerset on the other hand suffered from injuries and a lack of experience in the middle order, and there must have been many times during the season when the Somerset members watched their youngsters fail whilst listening in vain as De Bruyn churned out century after century.

Workhorse 

 

Plenty of seamers bowled plenty of overs with special mentions going to David Masters and Alan Richardson who seemed to singlehandedly lead their attacks over the summer. But there was one bowler who outshone them all. Monty Panesar managed to get through 750.3(47 per match) overs during the summer and what makes this even more fascinating was that 497.4(32 per innings) overs were in the first innings of games. Sussex went into most games with 4 bowlers and Monty was forced into a holding partnership in the first innings on many occasions. Given the amount of effort he put into his first innings toils it was probably disappointing for him that he didn’t get more opportunities in the second innings as Sussex struggled. Nonetheless 69 wickets @ 27.25 in 750.3 overs at an RPO of 2.5 is impressive and worthy of accolade.

New Kid on the Block

Alex Hales had his breakout season making his way into the England T20 and becoming Nottinghamshire's most consistent batsmen in all formats of the game. Relaxed and watchful in the four day game he came alive in one day and T20 cricket where he attacked from the off whilst scoring consistently heavily with his powerful and destructive strokeplay.

Epic Fail

At the start of the summer it seemed James Hildreth was destined for an England spot; by the end he was nowhere in the thoughts of the England selection committee having not made any representative squads during the summer or the winter. In a 3 way battle for the number 6 spot at the start of the summer following a brilliant 2010 county season followed by a successful spell as Lions captain in the winter Hildreth looked set for big things but it all seemed to go wrong. He started the season in terrible form with the bat and never recovered. As with all Somerset batsmen it seems he is too reliant on Marcus Trescothick to score runs first before he follows, as he too often failed after Trescothick had fallen early. A reluctance to bat in the top 4 meant rookie Chris Jones took the number 4 spot for most of the summer with Hildreth at 5, and seemingly a peripheral figure in one day cricket where he is the more cautious of a number of more talented bigger hitter batsmen; his standing really has fallen this season. If he wants to have any chance of representing England in the future, personally I feel he needs to move somewhere where there is more responsibility on his shoulders and the wickets are not quite so placid- this is unlikely to happen given he seems settled at Somerset.

Special Achievement

Not good enough to make one first class appearance for Durham, Will Gidman moved to Gloucestershire to join his brother, Alex, in what was a struggling team devastated by the loss of a number of key players. No-one could have quite forecasted the success he would have in his first full season in county cricket. 13^th in the list of top run-scorers in division 2 with 1006 runs @ 45.72 and 7^th in the list of wicket-takers with 51 @ 21.33, Gidman was the first player since 1996 to make the double of 1000 runs and 50 wickets. It wasn’t quite good enough to gain promotion or garner international recognition but this truly was a brilliant feat by a player in his first year of first class cricket.

 Do It Yourself

It would be unfair to ever say that Warwickshire’s county campaign was anything but a magnificent all round team contribution and whilst Chris Woakes really had phenomenal statistics (579@48.25) what he can’t match is Rikki Clarke’s contribution to the wickets taken(558 @26.57, 46 @26.63 and 39 catches). That’s 39 (that’s 3 more than wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose made in the same amount of matches) catches and 46 wickets so a total of an influence on 85 wickets, now that’s some going. It’s nice to see Clarke’s bowling finally deliver as he always had the merits to be a quality all-rounder, it’s just a shame that he’s 30 now rather than 25 and likely will never again get a chance with England.

County Star

If personal statistics alone were merit enough for this award then Marcus Trescothick would surely win it (1673 @ 79.66 in the county championship, 338 @ 37.55 @ 113.04 in the CB40, 507 @ 39 @ 162.5 in the 2020). By some way the highest scorer in county cricket overall, he was as prolific as ever and continues to be the most dominant player in county cricket but again alas Somerset failed and so his contribution although exceptional is not enough to win the prize. Rory Hamilton-Brown’s stats (1039 @ 37.1, 372@ 28.61 @ 120.77, 232 @ 17.84 @ 128.88) are considerably less impressive but solid all the same. RHB has taken a lot of stick in his time in county cricket, no more than when he jumped ship back to his original county to take up the captaincy under the guidance of new coach Chris Adams. It has not always been easy in the first two years but over the second half of the season a new young team has developed with RHB at the helm. It takes great courage (or stupidity) to continue to be so steadfast and unfaltering in his leadership of the team when so young and inexperienced. When the openers were failing he took it upon himself to open the batting, when other bowlers were struggling in one day cricket he would take on the responsibility, when they slumped to defeat he would always front up to the press. A blissfully inconsistent first 4 months lead into a brilliant final month where they went unbeaten managing to grasp promotion to the first division and winning the CB40 where RHB putting in a match winning 78. He may not get the best press in cricket but there is no doubt that RHB will continue to lead a young and improving team who may well turn out to be the dominant force of English county cricket, but for this season I hope RHB is happy with the recognition I have given him as my County Player of the season.

International Star

Could be nearly any of the players that represented England this summer given the resounding success of the summer but Ian Bell gets my nomination for his 4 test hundreds in the summer including his first double century. Finally Bell seems to have realised his potential and seemingly now is one of the top 2 or 3 batsmen in the world. Special mentions must go to Prior, Cook and  nearly all the bowlers who had brilliant summers.