2007 County Awards

[feverpitch]

My county awards:

Best player: His side didn't even come close to the honours, but it simply has to be Mark Ramprakash. Averaging 100 in consecutive seasons simply defies belief; an unprecedented achievement for the consummate professional and master technician. And finally, the first man to hit 10 first-class hundreds in a season since, well, himself.

Best batsman: Same again.

Best bowler:A toss up between two 38-year-olds (Andy Caddick and Otis Gibson) and the irrepressible Mushtaq Ahmed. Gibson's superhuman deeds in Divison One, and match-winning Friends Provident display, shade it.

Best performance: Otis Gibson's 10-47 against Hampshire was simply extraordinary.

Best hat-trick: Ryan McLaren's memorable effort in Kent's Twenty20Cup Final win.

Best match: Though ultimately it proved not to be close, for sheer quality and intensity Sussex's crucial victory over Lancashire at Liverpool.

Most valiant run chase: Lancashire's 464 on the final day against Surrey, just beating Surrey's very own 467 against Hampshire which, not coincidentally, were both at the Oval. Now, if only Lancs had showed similar application in the aforementioned Sussex clash.

Most ridiculous rant: Bob Willis, take a bow. His claim that former internationals like Hick, Crawley and Ramprakash were "clogging up" the system was totally nonsensical. On the contrary, they raise the standard - and are invaluable for youngsters to learn from.

Best decision (1): Chris Adams' 11th-hour u-turn when Yorkshire came calling. He was vindicated as, under his astute captaincy, Sussex won the Championship once more.

Best decision (2): Surrey effectively sacking Azhar Mahmood, seldom a first-class match-winner, and signing Harbhajan Singh in his place. Singh, with much to prove after being dropped by India, was the catalyst for their spectacular mid-season change of fortunes, claiming 37 wickets in just six games and providing the penetration his side had so lacked previously.

Worst decision (1): The ECB re-jigging the recruitment rules and banning the second overseas player from next season. They have helped immeasurably in improving the quality of cricket. Better, surely, to introduce serious preventive measures to ensure counties always field at least eight players eligible for England at that time.

Worst decision (2): The London-based dentist who paid for Jimmy Maher to be Glamorgan's overseas player. Maher suffered a sad crisis-in-confidence, averaging a paltry 17 in eight first-class games in a Glamorgan season that went from one nadir to the next. Meanwhile his early season stand-in, Matthew Elliot, was excellent.

Saddest tale: Staying with Glamorgan, Simon Jones' depressing transformation from reverse-swing king to a stuttering run-up - and one first-class wicket for 290. A move may just reinvigorate him but, though he is just 28, you would get long odds on him playing for England again.

Best emerging player: A rare bright spot for Glammy, 17-year-old James Harris took 12 wickets against Gloucestershire, and continued to impress therafter, finishing with 33 wickets at just 23. And, as shown by an 88*, he can bat too.

Biggest red-herring: Sussex suffering innings defeats in games two and three, only to bounce back to record consecutive Championship titles.

Most predictable match-winner: The irrepressible Mushtaq Ahmed was at it again, claiming 90 first-class wickets including 13 in their final Championship win. Whether he is Sussex's finest ever player is certainly up for debate; but he is, surely, their biggest ever match-winner.

Most hyped-up player: Adil Rashid was always in the spotlight after his heroics last season. His batting develop tremendously (average 46) but his leg-spin still lacks control, and he found things mighty tough towards the end. Still, well worth an A tour and near-certain to play for England one day.

Biggest proof of the quality of the county game: The plethora of superb spinners on the circuit, although this was fall next season. Shane Warne, Mushtaq, Muralitharan, Harbhajan, Danish Kaneria, Murali Kartik and Monty Panesar bring immense spinning quality to the game. Hopefully Adil Rashid, whose bowling stuttered somewhat after a fine start, and Mike Munday, who recorded match figures of 10-60 in the season's final game, can learn a thing or two.

Best captain: For a pair of promotions and stamping his authority over a talented but hitherto underachieving side, it has to be Justin Langer, who scored copious runs to boot. Elsewhere, Rob key was excellent in leading Kent's Twenty20 triumph, while Adams was as combative as ever.

Most heart-warming story: Worcestershire overcoming floods and Championship thrashings to win the Pro40 league was a tremendous show of character.

Easiest scapegoat: The Pro40. Derided primarily for being 40 overs (how much difference does the loss of 10 middle overs really make?) it provided some enthralling action during the summer holidays. As Worcestershire illustrated, a competition starting in mid-season can reinvigorate a county. With only eight games, it is short and sweet; and, above all, it proved a lot of fun.

Dream Championship XI (both divisions, based on first-class form only):
Justin Langer (captain)
Michael Di Venuto
Mark Ramprakash
Stuart Law
David Hussey
Cameron White
Tim Ambrose (wicket-keeper)
Andy Bichel
Otis Gibson
Mushtaq Ahmed
Andy Caddick

(With Murali replacing Bichel on turning tracks)

[engssmoothcriminal]

Can't really argue with any of those awards FP. Though a quick mention for Chris Jordan in the emerging player category. A few additional category's;

Worst Overseas Player – Doug Bollinger. How this guy is in the Australian A team (and has taken wickets in the Pura Cup) will forever be a mystery to me. Medium pace, no control and barely capable of getting the ball off the straight he stood out even amongst a pretty dismal Worcestershire attack as a truely awful bowler.

Worst Locum Overseas Player– Imran Tahir. Whilst Malinga and Inzy hardly set the world alight in their brief stints with Kent and Yorkshire they were at least box office draws not a second rate Pakistani leg spinner brought in ahead of decent young English options (Lawson or Wainwright) in a desperate bid to match Mushy down at Hove. Figures of 0-141 in an innings defeat served Yorkshire right for going down the short term quick fix route and not taking on the lessons learnt in last years campaign.

Best Locum Overseas Player- VVS Laxman. Two sublime hundreds in Lancashire’s final couple of championship games came agonisingly close to securing the first title in years.

Biggest Underachiever Of The Season – Varun Chopra. He’s still only 20 but I expected a lot more from this talented youngster this year and he had a pretty modest first full season in the first team and has yet to make the adjustment to one day cricket. Honourable mentions to Trott and Loudon .

Player Most Revitalised By A Change Of Venue – Darren Maddy. From languishing in Leicestershire’s seconds for most of last season to captain of Warwickshire in the space of a couple games. Despite suffering a double relegation (something he was hardly at fault for) he was runner up in both the batting and bowling averages and earned a deserved call up to the 20/20 world cup where he did have his moments. Honourable mention goes to Mark Wagh.

Gutsy Comeback Of The Season – Geraint Jones. You did kind of fear for the guy after a dismal first handful of games when he couldn’t buy a run but a not particularly challenging hundred against Surrey kick-started his season and he finished the year really well albeit someway down the England pecking order.

Predictable ECB Double Standard Of The Season – Glamorgan docked 8 points for a substandard pitch whereas Lancashire’s game at Blackpool versus Durham where no side topped 190 or managed to bat out 60 overs got off mysteriously scot free.

Still In Desperate Need Of A Rethink – The point scoring system in the county championship is still a monumental mess and needs to be simplified and reset to award positive attacking cricket. Not support turgid final day bonus point quests when sides prefer to grind out 400 rather than attempt to manufacture positive results as it does now.

The Can’t Bat, Can’t bowl, Can’t Field But Managed To Hit 9.66% Of Balls He Received In One Day Cricket For Six Award – Tim Groenewald walks away with this something of a niche award with 20 sixes off just 207 balls amidst the utter garbage he regularly served up with the ball.

Shoot Yourself In The Foot Moment Of The Season – Mark Greatbatch Leaving out Bell for Westwood for the C&G final was never going to end well but you don’t then draw attention to the mistake by bemoaning a lack of experience amongst the batsmen after they predictably imploded under pressure.

[adamberry]

I'm in complete agreement with you over the points issue esc. The use of bonus points in today's game needs serious revisions, although not complete removal: say limit it to a maximum of 3 batting points instead of 5.

Gutsy comeback - again, I agree, but I fear we might be castigised for even mentioning his name in the same sentence as England! His keeping has definately improved this year, and he's found some batting form as well. Now to work on those slow-medium dobbers he was bowling on Friday...

Laxman was brilliant. What a pleasure it was to watch him when Lancashire came down to Canterbury.

[engssmoothcriminal]

Originally Posted by adamberry

I'm in complete agreement with you over the points issue esc. The use of bonus points in today's game needs serious revisions, although not complete removal: say limit it to a maximum of 3 batting points instead of 5.

Well if you cut out all the bonus point crap and went with a simple 3 points for a win 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss the end of season table is (as with most years) almost completely identical for both divisions;

Division 1
1, Sussex 27 points (7W, 6D)
2, Durham 25 points (7W, 4D)
3, Lancashire 24 points (5W ,9D)
4, Hampshire 23 points (5W, 8D)
5, Surrey 22 points (5W, 7D)
6, Yorkshire 20 points (4W, 8D)
7, Kent 17 points (3W, 8D)
8, Warwickshire 15 points (2W, 9D)
9, Worcestershire 10 points (1W, 7D)

The only difference from the actual championship table being Hampshire (who I'd personally argue had the far more impressive season) climbing above Surrey. Revealingly there is only a 12 point difference in total collected bonus points between the top 8 sides which over the course of the season is a completely irrelevent amount. Despite deservedly winning the championship Sussex with their total of 80 bonus points only come in 8th of all 18 counties.

Division 2
1, Somerset 35 points (10W, 5D)
2, Middlesex 26 points (6W, 8D)
3, Nottinghamshire 25 points (6W, 7D)
4, Essex 24 points (6W, 6D)
5, Northants 21 points (5W, 6D)
6=, Derbyshire 17 points (3W, 8D)
6=, Gloucestershire 17 points (3W, 8D)
8, Leicestershire 12 points (2 W, 6D)
9, Glamorgan 9 points (2W, 6D)

Interestingly the bonus points have slightly more impact in division 2 where the gulf between top and bottom is that much wider than the more even first division and Notts sealed the final promotion spot at the expense of Middlesex on the back of their batting prowess which personally I don't equate to playing the better cricket. Taunton and Trent Bridge produced the most batsmen friendly tracks and as a result they were the two sides to cash in (130 overs to grind out 400 and claim 5 batting points hardly required that much breaking of sweat for Langer, Trescothick, Hussey and co)and claim the most batting points in both divisions.


It's a tough balance coming up with a system that not only rewards positive winning cricket but also values a hard fought 4 day draw (hence why a simple 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw sadly isn't an option) that provides the competitive breeding ground for the future England internationals. However bonus points IMHO aren't the way to do things and if it was left up to me I'd scrap them altogether and just go with 5 points for a win, 2 points for a winning draw (and a tie), 1 for a losing draw and absolutely nothing for a loss. I'd also be tempted to throw in an additional point for a first innings lead (not available on day 4) but that could make it a tad convuluted.