County Transfers

First topic message reminder :

Not a huge "transfer" market in cricket, but may be interesting to keep track of any movements - including retirements.


Confirmed

David Willey from Northants to Yorks
Paul Horton leaves Lancashire
Chris Tremlett retiring
Reece Topley from Essex to Hampshire
Paul Grayson leaving Coaching position at Essex


Rumoured
Mark Footitt leaving Derbyshire

Not actually a transfer but a re-signing as Hants get Shahid Afridi for this summer's t20 campaign. Maybe it'll work - and best of luck to Hants and their supporters here - but I suspect he's getting close to his ''sell by'' date.

His batting for a long time now has been a gimmick. He comes out takes a few heaves and see what happens, which more often than not is very little.

His leg spin however is fantastic in the shortest format. His consistency, variations and experience make him one of the most useful bowlers around in t20. He is also very happy bowling at any point of the innings which many spinners aren't.

Given that Danny Briggs has headed to Sussex it is a very good signing for Hants in my opinion.

Fair enough, Carlos. I'm probably not giving Afridi's leg spin sufficient credit. I readily admit to getting irked when the Sky commentators blather on about ''Boom! Boom!'' as soon as they see him with a bat in his hand, only for him nowadays to usually fail a few balls later.

Agreed that the media circus around his batting is more than irksome most the time, guildford.

It was music to my ears about a season or two back when Nasser Hussain finally pointed out that it's Afridi the bowler not batsmen who wins games these days!

I see Kent have released Ben Harmison.  I'm not particularly surprised - he's not a bad batsman, but seems to be just a bit below the level where he could command a regular first team place in a county team.  As he's 30 I imagine he might find it rather difficult to get a contract with another county.

Joe Gatting formerly of Hampshire and Sussex signs for a local Norfolk club Swardeston

Monty Panesar has been added to the Northants squad for the season but because their playing staff budget was already confirmed and full he is funding himself.

Many people have said many things about Monty but I don't think anyone will now question whether he truly wants to make something more of his career having funded himself through a pre-season and now committed to a summer unpaid.

Delighted to hear that he is back in county cricket and can't think of a better place than his home county for him to try to restart things. Hope it pays of Monty!

Bit of movement in the Durham area

Phil Mustard will be leaving at the end of the year and has gone on loan to Gloucestershire for the rest of this season

Mark Stoneman has rejected a new contract offer and will be leaving Durham at the end of the season - imagine he will have a lot of suitors

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Bit of movement in the Durham area

Phil Mustard will be leaving at the end of the year and has gone on loan to Gloucestershire for the rest of this season

Mark Stoneman has rejected a new contract offer and will be leaving Durham at the end of the season - imagine he will have a lot of suitors

Stoneman to Surrey it seems http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/36894603

Good player, probably been a bit unlucky not to get some International recognition considering our travails with openers.

Thoughts on this Surrey crew?

Would look like a good signing for Surrey, but not sure it is the best move Stoneman could make, and thus may not be the best deal for the SW London team. In general players moving to the capital from any distance rarely seem to deliver the goods.

Surprised he's agreed to the move considering Surrey's division one status is "precarious" to say the least

LondonTiger wrote:Would look like a good signing for Surrey, but not sure it is the best move Stoneman could make, and thus may not be the best deal for the SW London team. In general players moving to the capital from any distance rarely seem to deliver the goods.

Ricky Ponting did more than fine.

That said, it's probably often a fair point. Maybe sometimes connected with players beyond their best moving to the richest clubs for a final pay day. I realise you're really referring to English players but it won't stop me asking how Mr and Mrs Graeme Smith are - considerably better than how they left Surrey, I would imagine.

One odd thing about Mark 'Rocky' Stoneman's signing (unless I haven't been looking properly) is that Surrey haven't said anything about the length of his contract. That's unusual for the Club. Pure speculation on my part but I wonder if Stoneman has some ''get out'' clause if we go down and don't get back quickly - that would go some way to covering Olly's ''surprise'' in his post immediately above.

The signing certainly appears to make sense for Surrey. We don't have enough batsmen in the squad as it is and one or two could leave at the end of the season as well (best known being Davies, a fine batsman on his day although, all in all for the Corporal , more minuses than pluses in my book). Surrey's openers haven't performed disastrously on an individual basis but we've only twice had an opening partnership of 50 or more this season. An experienced and hardened player like Stoneman will hopefully bring improvement.

From a cynical Surrey point of view as well, he'll probably be fully available to us throughout 2017 unless his form sky rockets and leads to a (currently unexpected) international call up. That'll be fine with many Surrey members who care more about their Club than the national team.

Just one other thing. If Stoneman doesn't deliver, I would expect a lot of flak to be directed at head coach Michael Di Venuto, his former Durham team mate, who has been heavily involved with this recruitment. Due mainly to results and the threat of relegation, MDV is struggling to win over many supporters.

Seems like there could be quite the exodus from cash strapped Durham - Guildfords favourite Lizzie Ammon reporting Mark wood is set to leave at the end of the season

ECB have apparently agreed to bail out durham who are in major financial difficulties - but they have to cut their staffing bill significantly.

Rumours suggest this means that Mark Wood (unless he gets a central contract again which is unlikely), Scott Borthwick and Keaton Jennings will all be joining Stoneman and Mustard on the way out.

Evening all. Stoneman is a good player and I would be hopeful that he will do well at Surrey.  The vibes seem to be that Davies is looking to leave at the end of the season.  After a patch of really poor form he has put together some scores recently - not least in the last couple of 50 over matches.  He is undoubtedly a fine batsman, tho one who does tend to blow hot and cold.

It did seem very odd indeed that Davies talked about resuming his wicket keeping and getting back in the England team.  I simply can't see the latter happening. I would be confident that the England set up would have him down as not strong enough mentally to withstand the pressure of international cricket. He's already 30 and gave up wicketkeeping for quite a period.  if England do decide to move away from Bairstow/Buttler I'd have thought they would be more likely to go for someone younger like Foakes.

LondonTiger wrote:ECB have apparently agreed to bail out durham who are in major financial difficulties - but they have to cut their staffing bill significantly.

Rumours suggest this means that Mark Wood (unless he gets a central contract again which is unlikely), Scott Borthwick and Keaton Jennings will all be joining Stoneman and Mustard on the way out.

A sign of the falling county system - a club which has had great success in recent years going under. The ECB needs to fix it before it's too late

Olly,

Durham's issues have actually been caused more by international cricket - or more accurately building a big test quality ground, bidding too much for Ashes tests, and not selling many tickets.

Now Northants, who have had millions pumped into them by ECB are a sign of a failing county system.

Olly Stone has signed with Warwickshire

Lancs releasing Reece, Griffiths and Edwards.

Looks likely Adam Wheater will leave Hants.  He's been playing as a specialist batsman, having lost his role as a wicketkeeper to Lewis McManus. (Wheater has gone on loan to Essex until the end of the season.) Striking parallels with Surrey's Steven Davies, who's also made known his wish to resume keeping, but is clearly behind Ben Foakes in the Surrey wicket keeping stakes.

Both Wheater and Davies are excellent batsmen, and I would have thought are likely to be in demand.  Whether they could both get a place at a Div 1 side with a promised role as wicket keeper is an interesting question....

With there only being limited mileage left in James Foster, perhaps Wheater may prolong his return. Would be a touch ironic if he did, having originally left Essex to join Hampshire to try and secure the first choice keeper job.

I wonder if Somerset will take a look. Got a young lad from Kent in Ryan Davies (only 19) behind the stumps at the moment - lots of potential but only averaging 22 for the season. A far cry from when both Buttler and Kieswetter were on their books.

Talk today at the Oval about Gary Wilson joining Leics. Feel that would be a good move for all concerned.

Hearing strong suggestions that Steven Davies is signing - or even has signed - for Somerset.

guildfordbat

Both your previous posts make sense. I cannot see Gary Wilson regaining a first team place, even if Steve Davies leaves. The Davies move makes really good sense for him if he wants to resume wicketkeeping (there's surely no way anyone would displace Ben Foakes now). Davies would serve Somerset well as, with the greatest respect, a kind of Kieswetter-Lite in both four day and one day formats.

I think both would leave with Surrey's thanks for services past and best wishes for the future.

LondonTiger wrote:With there only being limited mileage left in James Foster, perhaps Wheater may prolong his return. Would be a touch ironic if he did, having originally left Essex to join Hampshire to try and secure the first choice keeper job.

And Wheater has indeed signed for Essex.

Davies to Somerset makes sense. Closer to home for a lad who never seemed to really settle in the big smoke.

Scott Borthwick to Surrey to be confirmed soon

And Mark Wood to Lancashire, unless he gets a central contract.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Scott Borthwick to Surrey to be confirmed soon

...and just before any haters or trolls trot out that tired cliché about Surrey buying in all their players and not producing their own, here's a few names for you:

- current Surrey home grown: Zafer Ansari, Rory Burns, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Jade Dernbach, Arun Harinath, Stuart Meaker, Jason Roy, Dominic Sibley.
- recent Surrey produced "exports": Jordan to Sussex, Carberry to Hants, Clarke and Evans to Warks.

Yes, Surrey do make some big name signings, but a significant part of their current first team squad is young and homegrown.

To be fair, Simon, I'm not aware of there being any Surrey haters or trolls here. Admittedly, Gooseberry doesn't seem to like us much but it's often difficult to tell if he likes anyone.

Yes I know, guildford. But listening to the BBC online coverage earlier today as they discussed - live from Durham - the likelihood of Borthwick joining us, they quoted a text just received from a listener saying 'why don't Surrey produce any of their own players rather than just poach all their players from elsewhere?'.

I saw the way that one was going so popped by here to nip it in the bud.

Borthwick will certainly bowl more at Surrey, not convinced he will still be batting at 3 though..

Essex sign Mohammed Amir for the 2nd half of next season...

Sussex sign Stiaan Van Zyl on 3 year deal

That could be an outstanding signing by Essex given Amir's ability with the swinging ball.

Must admit im happy we have signed a seamer given the retirements of Masters and Napier..but he he hasn't set the world alight since coming back..hopefully he can re-discover his form of old

David Wiese to Sussex has become the latest in the glut of long term Kolpak deals signed by South African players ahead of this summer. Wiese is a three year deal.

Kyle Abbott and Rilee Roussouw to Hampshire have been the highest profile deals with both currently important players in the SA test and one day sides respectively. Abbott is a 4 year deal, Roussouw has signed for 3 years.

All rounder Stiaan van Zyl has already signed a three year deal with Sussex.

Merchant de Lange is also in talks with Glamorgan about signing a kolpak deal as well.

In less controversial news:

Adam Voges has re-signed for Middlesex this summer. It hasn't been confirmed if he will be captain again though.

Matt Walker and Allan Donald have teamed up as Kents new coaching team. Both good appointments in my opinion with Walker having as good a knowledge of the county game as anyone. Donald on the other hand is just a fantastic coach to have involved in county cricket.

Surrey all rounder James Burke has joined Leics on loan for the 2017 season. An excellent move for both counties and the player. Burke has some talent and potential but the emergence of the Currans has effectively blocked his path at the Oval.

Yep it's a smart move for all involved.

Burke has a useful knack of taking wickets at key times as well as being able to strike a long ball. Plus his fielding is excellent. He's a modern all rounder, he won't be a world beater but could be an very solid county pro if given time in the middle.

Agree - James Burke's loan makes sense. It seems unlikely that he would have featured much in Surrey first team this upcoming summer.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:ECB have apparently agreed to bail out durham who are in major financial difficulties - but they have to cut their staffing bill significantly.

Rumours suggest this means that Mark Wood (unless he gets a central contract again which is unlikely), Scott Borthwick and Keaton Jennings will all be joining Stoneman and Mustard on the way out.

A sign of the falling county system - a club which has had great success in recent years going under. The ECB needs to fix it before it's too late

Its not just the county system, its also the spread of internationals and the demands on stadia costs to get them without any long term garuntees. Yorkshire had rage on this a couple of years ago when stuffed for fixtures.
Theres probably one too many "test class" grounds to be truely sustainable, and then theres the Lords bias which sees it as snub not to host a touring team there. And the politics around Cardiff.

Compared to "other sports" cricket has actually done pretty well to avoid big names teams going under. Both soccer and the union codes have seen high profile teams dissapear altogether. Cricket somehow manages to maintain counties like Leicestershire as a viable entity with occassional success.

Not to bury heads in the sand by any means and I do agree that the county system is creaking and importantly not producing the quality of comeptition required to really drive forward the development of intenrational standard players. Just lets not over exageratte the situation based on some bad investement decisions by a historically small county.

Tom Kahler-Cadmore will join Yorkshire at the end of the season...strange signing IMO.

wisden wrote:Tom Kahler-Cadmore will join Yorkshire at the end of the season...strange signing IMO.

Why do you think that Wisden?

Meanwhile, Surrey's 19 year old fast bowler Conor McKerr has joined Derbys on a 28 day loan and makes his CC debut away to Notts. That could be a tough baptism.

[quote="Good Golly I'm Olly"]

wisden wrote:Tom Kahler-Cadmore will join Yorkshire at the end of the season...strange signing IMO.[/adquote]

Why do you think that Wisden?

Because his career record is mediocre, he's had a couple of good games and been over-hyped...he wouldn't get into yorkshire's strongest XI IMO for me best to stay at Worcestershire for a couple more seasons and really prove himself to be consistent..and play reguarly

I understand he was in the Yorkshire system until winning a 6th form scholarship to Malvern Academy. Turning 23 this season he is no longer in the first flush of youth and needs to start fulfilling on the promise. There is a strong possibility that Yorkshire will not have an overseas player next season (other than for T20) - and when you see that Bresnan batted 6 this week (and 5 at the end of last season) and Root and Bairstow look unlikely to be available with any frequency, I can see why Yorkshire have done this.

Rumours that Morne Morkel and Hashim Amla are being spoken to bycounties who are un-known, about possible kolpak deals...

Not sure where to put this, so threw it here..

Pierre De Bryun has left Lecistershire mutuall agreement...rumours of dressing room un-rest

William Porterfield and Ateeq Javid being released by Warwickshire at the end of the season, the clearout continues

Brendan Taylor has left Notts and gone back to Zimbabwe