Wind gets the better of Kent

Kent have well documented problems with wind, and not just after Rob Key‘s gone to town on the baked beans and Scotch eggs. The county has announced that they won’t play any day-night matches in the 2010 season as high winds would cause issues with the temporary floodlights at the St. Lawrence Ground. Two matches [...]

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Nannes the nomad joins Nottinghamshire

Dirk Nannes is the latest overseas star to sign up for next season’s Twenty20 Cup (following Adam Gilchrist’s move to Middlesex and the various other county comings and goings), having been snapped up by Nottinghamshire. The Dutch-Australian fluent Japanese speaker and skiing enthusiast is widely regarded as a Twenty20 specialist, and given his success with [...]

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Gilchrist and Sachin at Middlesex?

Next season’s Twenty20 cup looks set to be an altogether more glamourous affair, with Middlesex having already signed Adam Gilchrist and hopeful of adding Sachin Tendulkar as well. Add to this the arrival of Ajantha Mendis at Hampshire, and county cricket in general is looking like it might be a little easier on the eye [...]

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Shakib joins Worcestershire

Good news for any West Midlands-based fans of under-exposed world class Bangladeshi all-rounders (of which, no doubt, there are many) – Worcestershire have signed Shakib Al Hasan for 2010. “I am thrilled and inspired to be joining the team once graced by Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Vikram Solanki”, he didn’t quite say. Does this [...]

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Hoggard’s departure from Yorkshire

Yorkshire’s decision to release Matthew Hoggard (if it was indeed their decision rather than his – reports so far tend to take one side or the other) is surprising, to say the least. He took more First-Class wickets than any other Yorkshire bowler (although admittedly he didn’t do too well in the shorter formats), and [...]

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The Best of 2009

The county season’s over for another year, and so here are my picks for the best of 2009 Best Batsman: With more than 1800 runs at an average of more than 75, it has to be Marcus Trescothick again, although Michael Di Venuto’s contribution to Durham’s successful defence of their County Championship title deseves commendation. [...]

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Sussex and Somerset Qualify for the Big Bucks

Sussex and Somerset are on their way to the Champions League after reaching the final of the Twenty20 Cup, with Sussex also being crowned champions for the first time after scoring an impressive 172 in the final. The rewards on offer in India will dwarf the £50,000 or so that the winning county earns from [...]

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Twenty20 Cup Finals Day Preview

The Twenty20 reaches its conclusion this weekend with the now traditional Finals Day. This year will be the last season of the current format, and will also see the first qualifiers decided for the Champions League after last year’s cancellation. As well as the exciting prospect of the mascot race being commentated on by Phil [...]

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Northants Still Paying the Price of the ICL

This ICL versus IPL business, which should by now have surely been laid to rest, rumbles on. Should the Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Sussex in their Twenty20 Cup semi-final on Saturday, they would normally have been expected to fill one of England’s spots in the Twenty20 Champions League (or the Champions League T20, or the Champions [...]

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Ups and Downs for the Dutch

Dutch cricket has had quite a summer – as England can attest – but it will no longer be able to rely on the services of ‘Don’t Call Him Dirty’ Dirk Nannes, who has been called up by Australia (at last) for the Twenty20 internationals at Old Trafford that will follow the Ashes. Although Nannes‘ [...]

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County Cricket Takes a Sensible Turn

The ECB has, somewhat out of character, done something that makes sense and decided that having two county Twenty20 competitions might be a little over the top, scrapping the proposed ‘P20′ league format (which was itself an alternative to the ‘EPL’ city-franchise-based competition which was previously favoured by some) in favour of expanding the existing [...]

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Flintoff: any excuse

For any of you on pre-Ashes Flintoff-watch, he’s just made 93 from 41 balls in Lancashire’s Twenty20 Cup match with Derbyshire. If any England fans are looking for an excuse to get carried away, then this is as good as you’re going to get. Indulge in some 2005 nostalgia below:

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