Player - Hardly the archetype Yorkshire seamer with his
headband and his Oxfordshire drawl but Jack Brooks encapsulated everything that
was good with Yorkshire this season. The only ever present of the fast bowlers
in the championship; he ran in day after day giving everything for his club and
celebrated his wickets with an exuberance that few can match. At times he was
expensive and but time and time again the captain turned to Brooks for wickets
and he took them. There may have been better bowlers this season ( Magoffin,
Ajmal, Patel) and Adam Lyth can feel a
right to feel aggrieved as the standout bat but in the modern day as a fast
bowler being an everpresent in the championship throughout the year whilst
contributing in the lo formats is no mean feat. For that and his unbridled
enthusiasm Jack Brooks is my player of the year.
Team - Possibly controversial but Warwickshire were the best
overall team over the course of the three formats. Two seconds and a first in
the T20 is a brilliant effort from a team which had its fair share of injuries
and other issues that affected selection. No-one really expected much from the
T20 and 50 over competitions but a team spearheaded by Jeetan Patel proved
exceptionally tough to beat. Yorkshire were worthy winners in the championship
but couldn’t continue their domination in the shorter formats where they were
inconsistent. Whilst Warwickshire never dominated, given the schedule and the
good (but not outstanding) squad at their disposal, this was an outstanding
season and a true team effort.
Overseas Player- Jeetan Patel really offers everything
Warwickshire could ever wish for. Brilliant in all 3 competitions he can bowl
both defensively and offensively; make big lower order contributions with the
bat; and a brilliant competitor. Take into account he turned down the chance to
play for NZ midsummer in favour of fulfilling his contract with Warwickshire
and you’ve a got a real star in your ranks (although I don’t think you’ll find
many kiwis coming to the same conclusion). His efforts in the championship
were excellent but it was in the 50 over and T20 that he excelled, bowling at a
quick pace but still getting dip and turn. It’s hard to find a consistent,
international class overseas player that will play the whole season but in
Jeetan Patel Warwickshire have found one. There is one other in Steve Magoffin
and maybe one for the future in Jesse Ryder but this season it was Patel that
made the biggest contributions to a team’s fortunes. Simply put without him
Warwickshire would have been no-where near their LO success.
Transfer
– Will Smith arrived with a modest record and reputation but along with Coles
and Benkenstein he was the catalyst that brought about a more consistent Hampshire
that enabled promotion in the championship. He brought a stability and steel to
a batting order that is full of strokeplayers and will be a key figure next season
if Hampshire are to retain their status. Mitch Claydon proved a canny signing
by Kent as the workhorse of their attack and Phil Jaques showed that he isn’t
finished yet as he provided a quality foundation for Notts at the start of the
season.
Breakthrough – Half way through the season and Kent may have
been questioning their logic in stepping down Geraint Jones in pre-season in
favour of Sam Billings. Come the end of the season and you could see exactly
why Kent made the decision and England look like they had a player of the future
in Billings. It was in the 50 over cup that Billings begin to pull things
together as from the middle order he combined power with unorthodoxy to bring
about Kent’s charge to the semi finals. His figures of 458 at 114.50 average @
154.20 strike rate from the middle order really are exceptional and worthy of
praise. From there he pushed on in the championship; the challenge for him now
will be to kick on next season. He shows the same kind of ability as Jos
Buttler with the bat but for to me has better foundations in four day cricket
to build big innings. His keeping at present is far from perfect but neither is
Buttler’s. They may well battle down the years for test selection whilst lining
up alongside each other in the shorter format if his form towards the end of
the season is anything to go by.
Pleasant Surprise – The early reports I’d read on Alex Lees
were of a stout accumulator with impressive skills of concentration. How wrong
first impressions can prove (at least for the first part). The Lees of this
season was a hulking top order bat with impressive power and well drilled
drives and pushes that were reminiscent of Trescothick and Hales. This is a
player who hits the ball extremely cleanly with a full face of the bat- and all
in a conventional manner. Whilst Lyth is the better four day bat at the moment,
Lees looks a brilliant prospect for the ODI team in the near future. He just
hits the ball so cleanly and conventionally. Against spin he has a big range of
attacking strokes (Uses his feet to hit the ball all around the ground both in
the air and along the ground) but looks weak when playing defensively. He also
tends to push a bit too hard with the red ball when defending and so I’d
imagine it will be a little while before he breaks into the test team but he
has all the attributes to come into the ODI team in the next year once the
World cup is over.
Disappointment - Essex again promised so much and delivered
so little. There will be excuses (Saeed Ajmal) and defences of their
performance (winning 6 out of the last 8 championship games) but given the
squad strength at Paul Grayson and James Foster’s disposal another year in the
second division and two quarter finals in limited overs competitions simply isn’t good enough. In two quarter finals against Warwickshire
they were beaten by an inferior set of players but who played better as a team. They thrashed promoted Worcestershire in their
last game and it’s hard not to think that Essex are the more equipped squad to
cope in division 1 but did they deserve to go up? No of course not. Maybe Paul
Grayson should look at the team that won 1 game in the first 8 rather than
looking at Worcestershire and Ajmal- who was available to every county to
select and whose action at the time was deemed clean. Still it seems like
Grayson will be once again at the helm next year so I wouldn’t bet on any
dramatic changes in their status next year- and all the whilst players such as
Tymal Mills will continue to leave the club and succeed elsewhere and the
excuses will continue.
What could have been? James Hildreth and Alex Gidman have
had strangely familiar careers. Both one club players (to this point); both anointed
as potential England players and selected as Lions captain at one point in the careers;
both with the ability to make breezy and attractive 30 and 40’s on the regular;
and both disappointingly moderate careers. Hildreth has always been rather
overshadowed by Trescothick and Compton at Sussex but a career average of 42
looks impressive on the face of it but coming in behind Tres, Comp and never
batting higher than 5 at Taunton puts this in some perspective. So attractive
to watch when in but he has never transferred the talent he has into continuous
success.
It was no surprise when Alex cashed in towards the end of
the season against teams who had all but given up. He ended the season with 1277
runs but more than half (645) came in the last three games against Kent,
Leicestershire and Worcestershire. Too often both Hildreth and Gidman have been
found wanting when needed most. Alex is moving onto pastures new now at
Worcestershire and you can’t help but feel that Hildreth could have done with a
similar transfer. Of course by now it’s too late for Alex Gidman and England
and chances are it’s gone now for Hildreth too. So many had such hopes for
these two; They’ve had decent careers but could it have been better?
