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 Delhi, Victoria and Middlesex in the past (not to mention a certain incident over the summer), it’s hard to argue with Notts director of cricket Mick Newell’s assertion that Nannes is “the most effective Twenty20 bowler in the world“. If Graeme Swann, Samit Patel and Ryan Sidebottom are all available to their county over the summer, then the Outlaws will have quite a bowling line up in the short format next year.

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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 next season.

Lancashire, not to be outdone, have made Lily Allen an honorary member.

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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.

• Best Bowler: Alfonso Thomas was impressive in the limited-overs competitions, but Graham Onions managed to take 69 first-class wickets at an average of less than 20 whilst breaking into the England side and taking a five-for on Test debut.

• Best Innings (Batsman): Rob Key’s 270 not out against Glamorgan was the highest score made in a winning cause, but Murray Goodwin‘s 344 not out from 351 balls for Sussex against Somerset takes the (non-existent) prize.

• Best Innings (Bowler): Kent’s James Tredwell could have had a category all to himself, with 8-66 against Glamorgan in the County Championship and 6-27 against Middlesex in the Friends Provident Trophy.

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Nannes About to Break Through

After making his Victoria debut at the ripe old age of 29, going missing in Middlesex and briefly going Dutch, Dirk Nannes is set to establish himself as a key part of Australia’s One Day attack. Having made his ODI debut yesterday in Australia’s demolition of Scotland, ‘Dirty’ Dirk will be looking to make an impact in the two Twenty20 matches against England in Manchester, and he certainly has the pedigree to do so given his success in the Twenty20 Cup with Middlesex and in the IPL with Delhi.

Of course, I’m hoping he’s on the losing side on Sunday (assuming the fabled Manchester climate allows enough play for a result ), but seeing him in the flesh will be special.

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County Cricket 2009 Division 2 preview

• Derbyshire have brought in Stuart Law (who was cut loose by Lancashire) to boost their one-day firepower, but he won’t feature much in the County Championship. Charl Langeveldt will also be absent for at least three matches following his acquisition by Kolkatta for the IPL, but captain Chris Rogers is probably the best short-sighted colour-blind ginger cricketer in the world.

• Essex have struggled in four-day cricket of late, leaning rather too heavily on Danish Kaneria, but Ryan ten Doeschate’s recent decision to put his county ahead of playing for the Netherlands will encourage hopes of promotion. Ravi Bopara’s time away in the IPL could be costly, though.

• Glamorgan had a terrible season last year, and will be looking for a dramatic improvement under new captain Jamie Dalrymple. If they are in a good position by June 21st, then the arrival of Herschelle Gibbs at the end of the World Twenty20 should give the side a noticeable boost.

• Gloucestershire, if anything, had an even worse season than Glamorgan, finishing rock bottom of the Championship in 2008. John Bracewell has a tough task on his hands to turn things around, but James Franklin’s arrival will help improve the standard of a bowling attack that struggled so much last year.

• Kent will be favourites to bounce straight back to Division One after last year’s relegation, but Stuart Clark’s Australia call-up could throw a spanner in the works. Joe Denly and Rob Key will bear most of the responsibility for run-making, but overall performances will need to improve if the stay in Division Two is to be a short one.

• Leicestershire are aiming to mix the youth of Sam Cliff and Josh Cobb with the experience of Paul Nixon, HD Ackerman, Boeta Dipenaar and new arrival Iain ‘blogger’ O’Brien. The pressure will be on O’Brien to fill in for the departing Dillon du Preez, who took 32 Championship wickets in 2008.

• Middlesex will be relieved to get back to County cricket after the Stanford super series, the aborted Champions’ League in India, the controversy over their signing of Philip Hughes, and the surprising departures of Eds Smith (retired) and Joyce (to Sussex). Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan and Tim Murtagh will take the majority of the strain with Strauss and Shah likely to spend most of the season on England duty.

• Northamptonshire struggled to win matches in 2008, so may be secretly hoping that Monty Panesar is dropped by England so that he can take key wickets for his county. The motley crew of Kolpaks and ‘Steelboks’ will otherwise have its work cut out to improve on last year’s showing.

• Surrey find themselves back in Division Two once again, but the summer’s signings of Andre Nel – who will be available throughout the season – and Grant Elliot will boost their chances of promotion. Mark Ramprakash, of course, is still there, and now that he has passed the 100 centuries milestone, his county will be hoping that the part-time ballroom dancer returns to his form of 2006 and 2007.

A Division One preview will follow tomorrow.

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Shah and Flintoff slog in vain

England’s slim hopes of salvaging something from the One Day series in India ended in dramatic fashion as the Fourth ODI was reduced to a 22-over slogfest. India, put in to bat by Kevin Pietersen, started their innings still expecting a 50-over match, but Sehwag behaved as if he was playing Twenty20 anyway, smashing 69 from 57 balls to take the home side to 106-1 after 17 overs.

A prolonged rain delay seemed at one stage to have ended all hopes of play resuming, but when it did India hammered 60 runs from their last five overs to take them to 166, a target inflated to 198 by the mystical workings of Duckworth/Lewis.

Nine runs an over was always going to be a struggle for England, and the only point in their innings when it looked attainable was whilst Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff where smashing balls to all corners of the ground during their 79-run partnership. Once both had fallen, England had little to offer in the way of boundaries, and could only make 178 from their allotted 22 overs.

India win the series, and England’s attention may now drift towards the upcoming Tests. Shah’s knock at least bodes well for Middlesex’s chances in the upcoming Twenty20 Champions League.

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Bumble vs Consumerism

With everyone getting excited about all the money up for grabs on Saturday, it’s refreshing to hear that David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd would give away the prize money if he had been involved in something similar. Of course, that’s easy for him to say as he knows there’s no danger of him ever being in that situation, but it makes you wonder what the current England side might do with the cash should they emerge victorious from Allen Stanford’s cash bonanza.

Time was that KP would probably have spent it on a haircut, but in these times of financial turmoil, he’s more likely to spend it a little more discreetly (perhaps on elocution lessons?).

Luton Town fans will be disappointed that Monty’s not involved, as he pledged to save the club with any money he won. Better than James Caan, I suppose.

How would you spend the money, or how do you think the England players should (if they win, which doesn’t seem a certainty after the game against Middlesex)?

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England vs Strauss

Andrew Strauss will find himself in the unusual situation of playing against England tonight.

When Middlesex take on England (as part of the Stanford Super Series), the county side may well be considered favourites, not least due to their wealth of Twenty20 experience. Also, Middlesex’s flexibility in terms of bringing in overseas stars such as Neil Carter gives them an edge, although KP isn’t exactly England born and bred.

You can follow the game live here.

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Weekend Youtube: Stars of the Stanford

With the cash bonanza that is the Stanford Super Series about to get underway, here’s a quick introduction to some of the personalities involved:

• Middlesex have qualified by grace of their victory in this year’s Twenty20 cup, for which a large portion of the credit is due to Dawid Malan’s rescue of the side from 21-4 against Lancashire, and Tim Murtagh will also be an important player for the Men In Pink.

• Trinidad & Tobago are involved following their success in this year’s Stanford 20/20 tournament, where Dave Mohammed dominated proceedings. He’s been called up to the Stanford Superstars squad, but T&T still have the experience of the likes of Darren Ganga, master of Mental Cricket.

• As well as Mohammed, the Stanford Superstars can also draw on the Twenty20 prowess of Chris Gayle, as well as the pinch-hitting of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

• England arguably have the least Twenty20 experience of the four sides competing, but the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff should be able to adapt their big hitting to the format.

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Twenty20 Cup: The last eight

With the Twenty20 Cup having reached the Quarter-Final stage, the remaining eight sides are only three matches away from the riches of the inaugural Twenty20 Champions’ League (providing, of course, they don’t field any players from the ICL, and aren’t replaced by teams from Pakistan).

• Durham, before this year’s tournament began, had won fewer games of Twenty20 than any other county (a mere 8), but Shaun Pollock’s economy rate has been consistently low, and even a certain, currently banned player has turned out for the now-quite-well-named Dynamos, taking 5-14 against Derbyshire. Add to that the fact that runs are being contributed from a variety of sources, and Durham look like genuine contenders.

• Essex‘s Twenty20 Cup campaign of 2008 is likely to be remembered mainly for Graham Napier‘s unbeaten 152 from 58 balls against Sussex, but James Foster has also made quite a few runs, and actually has a better Twenty20 average for this year than Napier. Ryan ten Doeschate is also worth a mention, and not just because his name is fun to type.

• Kent won the Twenty20 Cup last year, and any team with the redoubtable Rob Key is surely a force to be reckoned with. As well as Key, Joe Denly has impressed some onlookers, whilst James Tredwell has bowled well. The Spitfires will be amongst the favourites, especially if Denly and Key keep their form, and Yasir Arafat (no, not that one) continues to perform well.

• Lancashire have always been quite good at twenty20, so it’s no surprise that the Lemurs have made it to this stage. Lou Vincent and Mal Loye have been scoring plenty of runs, whilst Mahmood and Marshall have been taking wickets. I’d like to think they can win the whole thing (preferably with Freddie bowling some overs and scoring some runs in the final).

• Middlesex’s record in the Twenty20 Cup was, like Durham’s, pretty poor before the start of this year’s competition, but they’ve been making up for it this year, mainly due to an improvement in their bowling. They have no ICL players, so they could actually compete in the Champions’ League with their current team, which is a plus. Also, they have Dirty Dirk Nannes.

• Northamptonshire, unlike Middlesex, have loads of ICL players, so will probably not be Lalit Modi‘s favourites. I wouldn’t have picked them to make it this far, to be truthful, but Rob White has made plenty of runs and numerous others have put in good performances at crucial times to put the Steelbacks into the last eight. Given that they’ve surprised me so far, I’m not going to write them off at this stage.

• Warwickshire haven’t made too many runs – they have only once scored above 160. Despite this, they’ve lost none, had a tie (ooh, a tie) and two matches which ended in no result, which means that their bowlers must be doing something right. Of those bowlers, Salisbury and Botha have been the pick, taking wickets and going for not many runs at all. All in all, the King of Spain‘s men definitely have the pedigree to make the finals day.

• Yorkshire are strong contenders for the overall win. Adil Rashid has got a lot of people excited, and his 4-24 last night was proof that he can perform on the big occasion. Anthony McGrath, meanwhile, has scored more runs than anyone else in the competition. In addition, there’s always Dazzler to spice things up a bit.

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