Championship Review - Week 7

New leaders in Division 1 as one promoted team goes past another, while it’s a good week for two of England’s 2005 Ashes bowlers and Ramprakash’s wait goes on.

Division 1
Surrey played host to Somerset scoring 326, and with Mark Ramprakash making only 17 in the first innings and 15 in the second, his wait for his hundredth ton continues. Surrey then managed to contain Somerset to 135 for 4 until Ian Blackwell (158) put on 202 with Justin Langer (112) for the 5th wicket and 103 with Craig Kieswetter (38) for the 6th before losing their last five wickets for 6 runs to end on 446. Jade Dernbach took six wickets. Blackwell then took four wickets as Surrey struggled to 227 and Somerset knocked off the 111 to win for the loss of just two wickets to move to the top of the table.

Sussex batted first at Hove, but were undone by the Harmison brothers, who took seven wickets between them for Durham (Ben – 4 Steve -3) as they made just 214. Durham were in big trouble at 11 for 4 until Will Smith (107) and Dale Benkenstein (110) put on 205 for the 5th wicket and Durham finished on 301 for a useful lead. But for Matt Prior, it may have been enough for an innings victory as he scored 133 of Sussex’s 212 all out, with Steve Harmison taking a hat-trick in his four wickets. Durham lost three wickets in getting the 126 to win and remain in touch with the top of the table having played less games than anyone else.

Lancashire, perhaps mindful of their collapse in the preceding FP Trophy match, put Yorkshire in at Headingley with Yorks getting 395. That’s the fourth time this season that Yorkshire have been bowled out within 5 runs of a bonus point, and on such margins are positions likely to be determined this season. Lancs were 9 for 2 at one stage, but a stand of 258 between Paul Horton (152) and Mohammed Yousef (205 not out) and 197 between Yousef and Steve Croft (96) got Lancs to 481 for 5 in the rain affected match.

In another rain affected match, Kent declared on 431 for 8 with Martin van Jaarsveld (133) and Darren Stevens (127) putting on 210 for the 4th wicket. Hampshire then struggled to 215 and were 33 without loss following on as time ran out on the match. Kent will be pleased with return to from while Hants are really struggling this season.

Division 2
HD Ackerman (below) hit 164 as Leicestershire scored 390 against Glamorgan. This was enough for an innings victory as the Welshmen managed just 189 and 185 in their two innings, despiteDavid Harrison getting 64 off just 27 balls as last man in the Glamorgan innings. Dillon du Preez took 5-fer in the second innings.

HD Ackerman: In sublime form versus Glamorgan reaching three figures (left), and saluting the Grace Road pavilion (right).

Left: Glamorgan wilt against Dillon du Preez, whilst Paul Nixon brushes up on his Afrikaans courtesy of the slip cordon.

Right: Jamie Dalrymple tries (in vain) to stem the Glamorgan capitulation (Pics c/o RTE).

Worcestershire struggled to just 176 against Essex, but this was enough for a lead of 60 as Simon Jones took 4 for 14 to round off the Essex innings. Worcester did better second time round with 279 and although Ravi Bopara continued his fine start to the season with 85 Essex scored 264, to finish 75 runs short with Jones getting another four wickets as did Kabir Ali.

Gloucestershire got off to a brisk start against Warwickshire, amassing 420 all out in 117 overs. However, the Bears more sedate progress to 410 (Tony Frost getting 114) in 171 overs and the poor weather in Gloucester meant that a result couldn’t be forced as Gloucester declared on 228 for 8 in their second innings.

Derbyshire lost their last five wickets for just 27 runs as Middlesex dismissed them for 244. However, Middlesex struggled to 262 in reply, largely thanks to Ed Joyce coming in down the order with wicket keeper Ben Scott and Shaun Udal. Derbyshire then made 273 second time round with Jonathan Clare top scoring with 57. Chasing 256 to win, Owais Shah made 86 and Ed Smith 74 and Middlesex got home by 6 wickets

England Player watch
Another stellar innings from Matt Prior, who is now the first division’s top scorer and Luke Wright made just 15 runs in the same match. Ravi Bopara made a fighting 85 in a lost cause for Essex while Owais Shah made 86 in a winning cause for Middlesex.

Simon Jones and Steve Harmison were both in the wickets but both need to show a lot more consistency in terms of form (Harmison) and fitness (Jones) before they can be considered back in the fold. Tim Bresnan had a better game with the bat than ball for Yorkshire while Adil Rashid took two of the five Lancashire wickets to fall, albeit in 47 overs and for 133 runs.

Player of the week
Lots of big stands this week, two of them featuring Mohammed Yousef, who scored an unbeaten double century. Also kudos to Matt Prior (again) for keeping his head while all around were losing their’s. However, in terms of an all-round performance, for five wickets and 158 runs in a win that took Somerset to the top of the table, this week’s Player of the Week is Ian Blackwell.

What does the Indian Cricket League mean?

The announcement that the Indian Cricket League have recruited Inzaman and Mohammad Yousuf shows it has real potential. While it is hardly a start to rival that of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket it is a start nonetheless; Inzaman and Yousuf are both Pakistani greats, with the latter amongst the finest Test batsmen in the world today.

Yet, except for those two, there are no earth-shattering names amongst the list of 50; Yousuf is the sole household name still in his prime. We still know little of the venture, only that, in its first year, it will comprise a 40-day Twenty20 tournament. But there still aren’t enough players to fill the proposed six sides; and, with India playing against Australia (home and away) and Pakistan this autumn, they have not picked a particularly opportune moment to start the league up.

Kapil Dev and Tony Greig would surely not have given their names to it had they felt it was bereft of promise; but it is all shrouded in mystery. Most international players earn copious sums nowadays, though perhaps some will feel they still do not receive the share of the total revenue they deserve; the situation is little like that of 1977, when superstars lacked fair remuneration for the gifts.

That said, Hamish Marshall recently opted for county cricket over New Zealand, as he would earn more than from his central contract. Oddly, however, there are no Kiwis (at least as yet) on the list. While current players from England, Australia and probably India (players’ earnings from endorsements would fall hugely if they stopped playing nationally) would seem to be out of reach, there is hope they will be able to sign up players from less lavishly endowed nations. Yet WSC simultaneously signed dozens of internationals - and they were Derek Underwoods rather than Nicky Bojes.

What the organizers clearly believe is there is a huge market for domestic cricket, and it is a much more marketable product than currently appears, especially in India, where a solid journeyman makes a pittance. Perhaps they are right; but will cricket fans really switch over from India-Australia to watch domestic sides?

In the early stages players will be motivated almost solely by money. The same could have been said for WSC, which ultimately produced some riveting cricket – but there were Australian and West Indian national teams participating rather than a hodgepodge of Indian youngsters and players who failed to make the grade internationally, mixed in with the odd big name. The Indian Cricket League may impact upon how the game is run in India – probably a good thing – but seriously needs more stars in their prime to justify comparisons with Packer.

Wisden Five Cricketers of the Year

They are:

Paul Collingwood
Monty Panesar
Mark Ramprakash
Mohammad Yousuf
Mahela Jayawardene

All are deserving recipients, clearly. It is pleasing that a county player, Mark Ramprakash, is included after none were last year. Ramprakash batted extraordinarily, single-mindedly hitting 2000 runs at an average of over 100. Even allowing for this being in the Second Division, this is surely deserving of recognition.

However, given that the award is based predominantly on exploits during the English season, it appears a little unfair that Ian Bell, scorer of three consecutive Test hundreds against Pakistan, has been ignored, while Paul Collingwood is included. Ultimately, Editor Matthew Engel felt Collingwood, succeeding in Test cricket after finally getting a chance, had to be recognised while, in all probability, Bell's time will come again. Bell, however, should be outraged at not being included in 'The Wisden Forty'; he scored three hundreds and four fifties in 10 Tests in 2006, while also establishing himself in the ODI side. But it is nice to see Darren Lehmann included in the aforementioned list.

The Leading Cricketer in the Year award goes not to Yousuf, who scored more runs in a calendar year than anyone has ever done, but to Muttiah Muralitharan. Murali took 74 wickets (excluding Bangladesh) from nine Tests at 16, including a phenonemal 8-70 to tie the Test series in England. Yousuf scored 1788 runs at 99, scoring no fewer than nine hundreds. Which is the greater? In a batsmen-dominated world, perhaps Murali, by a whisker.

Wisden, needless to say, is fantastic as always, with the backlog of Leading Cricketers in the World particularly intriguing. While the almanac has invariably tempted readers to waste many an hour with its vast swathes of statistics, the writing - both the quality and quantity of it - has risen markedly in the past decade.