County championship XI of the season 2015

Good afternoon all,

Yet another season is somehow almost at an end already - given they keep getting longer I'm not sure how they still go by so quickly!

I was looking through BBC sport earlier and found an article by themselves below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/34258018

Whilst it is full of good suggestion for a composite side between the three formats it is still a bit muddled together.

That given I thought I'd start a thread where we could discuss not only the county championship XI of the summer but in which people can also feel free to offer individual sides for div 1 or div 2, the one day cup or the t20 blast.

Or if that doesn't take your fancy feel free to offer your favourite moments from the county summer, highlight performances or players you feel haven't been given due praise etc.

So here is my County championship side of the summer.

1.Hales
2.Burns
3.Prince
4.Hildreth
5.Bairstow
6.Ansari
7.Read (wk)
8.Harris
9.Brooks
10.Footit
11.Rushworth

Reserves: Trescothick, Steven Davies, Ben Brown, Jeetan Patel an Sidebottom.

Honourable mentions: Nick Browne, Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Matt Coles, Tom Curran, Steve Magoffin and Kyle Jarvis.

The toughest one for me was Sidebottom or Footit. Given both performed so well I wanted that left armer in there for variety in the attack. In the end the injury which robbed Sidebottom of the middle of the season cost him with Footits superior wicket haul, and extra pace, seeing him through. That said if I was picking a side to play for my mortgage Sidey would probably slip straight back in!

Other than that Burns at the top may raise some eyebrows, not least given I'm a Surrey fan, but in a season in which not many openers performed he was consistently a rock at the top of Surrey innings. Trescothick has ended the season with a good haul of runs but went missing for much if it when Somerset needed him most. Nick Browne is also a hell of a talent, but he is a player who has either gone big or not done as much which worked against him when selecting a partner for Hales.

The selection of Ansari may also be scoffed at but with no spinners really excelling this summer I wanted to pick 4 seamers. When selecting a spinner I then needed someone capable of batting in the top 6 above Chris Read, who was one of the first names on my team sheet. For this job Ansari was the clear choice for me given Scott Borthwick has bowled less than 150 overs all season and the other two solidly performing spinners for the season, Jeetan Patel and Simon Kerrigan, aren't strong enough bats for the top 6.

If picking this side showed me one thing, it was that this truly has been a summer for seamers and few accompanying acts!

Excellent article, Carlos. I'll give it some thought.

Ditto Carlos - good to see Hildreth, Rushworth, Footitt among others included in your team.

Carlos - despite a bit of thought, I can't argue against any of your team or the honourable mentions. Just one or two others to whom I'll give a mention - based either on my seeing them in a Surrey home game or their name on a scorecard making an impression:

* Darren Stevens - the old Surrey nemesis taking 61 CC wickets @ under 21 (and not all against us!).

* Graham Wagg - another who did well against Surrey with a double century plus 45 wickets throughout the CC season.

* James Taylor - in contrast to Steve Davies, he didn't start the season particularly well but got a glut of runs in the second half and won a recall to the international side.

* Keith Barker - a longstanding favourite, something of the village blacksmith about his style but nearly always involved in some way - shown by a batting average of 31 including 1 ton and 2 fifties and a bowling average of 30 with almost 40 wickets.

* Steve Patterson - in many ways the invisible man of the Yorks side; rarely wins a game single handedly but his typical taking of 1, 2 or 3 wickets every innings at a mighty economical rate hasn't half contributed to Championship success.

I suppose in line with recent posts I should give you a left field choice   as well:

* Kevin Pietersen. Only 4 CC games and I'm not so naive as to believe his overriding purpose was the good of the county game; however, he made a massive, massive impact and hugely entertained the spectators which after all is rather the point.

I'll have a think on an XI later on but a few Worcs players deserve an honourable mention despite relegation.

Jack Shantry-Unconventional but incredibly effective. 64 division wickets at an average of 21 with an economy of 2.64.

Joe Leach-First full season as a regular starter and has contributed well with both bat and ball, 58 wickets at a shade over 30 and 498 runs at a shade under 30.

Tom Fell-Youngest player this season in Division 1 to reach 1000 first class runs, in a key role at number 3. Really classy players who I think could go on to play for England in time.

Mat - that's a good post and 3 very fair shouts. Always difficult to do well in a (sorry!) mainly losing side and especially so for young, inexperienced players like Leach and Fell.

PS Why didn't your boys do what they're now doing to Middlesex to other teams more often?!

Not sure Guildford, guess it's easier now the pressure is off and I suppose inconsistency is to be expected from a fairly young side. We haven't really nailed down a first-choice XI and in particular the middle order, until now with Clarke, Kohler-Cadmore, Whiteley and Cox looking promising. Even then, a Division 1 side probably shouldn't be using Brett D'Oliveria as a makeshift opener!

We've missed the all-round contribution of Moeen and Ajmal simply didn't come off like he did last season, probably down to his new action.

Mat - take your point about the pressure being off.

What I was meaning about Leach's and Fell's runs is that they must be harder to get when team mates' wickets are falling around them. Therefore, all the more commendable.

Yeah sorry Guildford, I was responding to the 2nd part about why we haven't done it more often!

You're right, particularly in the case of Fell. We've been too reliant on him and Mitchell, then been lucky that the likes of Cox and Leach have chipped in with runs down the order. Fell in particular has been impressive as for a long time this season the middle order was incredibly fragile until now where we do seem to have discovered a relatively solid spine.

Good suggestions there from guildford and Mat.

Guildford - I'd agree with all of those. Steven Patterson especially has been an often unsung hero of a brilliant Yorks CC charge.

Graham Wagg as well is an excellent suggestion. So often when a player with lots of potential who hasn't quite lived up to it moves from one div 2 county to another he can fade from view. Wagg has consistently been a very solid performer for Glamorgan since moving there a few seasons ago. On a more personal note, to go with his double hundred this season against Surrey, I believe he also ran through us once with the ball last season as well!

Mat - Jack Shantry is a player I have admired for a while now. In fact I believe I posted something saying his performances must be putting him in the frame for a Lions opportunity earlier in the season. He has a a very awkard looking action but consistently takes wickets against strong opposition.

Looking at the Div 1 averages I've just realised that Michael Carberry has managed to score considerably over a 1000 CC runs without a single century.

I wonder how many times a batsmen has broken the 1000 runs in a summer mark without a single ton!

Didn't Rashid play enough CC cricket to make it to the side?

msp83 wrote:Didn't Rashid play enough CC cricket to make it to the side?

No. Just 7 out of 16 matches due to England commitments (mainly as drinks waiter). Averaged just over 4 wickets per match in those games, and got one ton with the bat and 2 50s (including a 99)


Thinking about a CC team, if I could only select a single yorkshire player I would have Timtom Bresnan ahead of Bairstow and Brookes. One of only two players to appear in all 16 matches for us, he scored 850 runs at an average of 50 with two hundreds and four 50s, while also taking 45 wickets as 3rd/4th seamer at an average just over 30. Genuine all rounder performances.

My team would be:

Hales
Trescothick
Prince
Hildreth
Bairstow (wk)
Bresnan
Berg
T.Curran
Brooks
Sidebottom
Rushworth

Missing out:
Northeast, Fell, Footitt, Fidel Edwards

Chose Tom Curran over Footitt as, although getting less wickets, he contributed to a promotion winning side.
My side may look a little 'bowler heavy' but Bresnan proved this year he's more than a capable batsman. Berg may be a surprise selection but he really has been brilliant for us. Whether it be late runs down the order or picking up vital wickets.