Why Tamim and County Cricket Need Each Other

In amongst other exploits in the BBC London commentary box, we got talking about Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib, playing for Worcestershire, was turning it miles, and had Middlesex's middle order of Shah, Malan and Housego (great to see him get a game by the way) in all kinds of trouble. KH, being a man of great knowledge, said that Shakib was (and indeed is) the first and only Bangladeshi to play county cricket.

A quick iPhone google proved that it was the case, which sort of surprised me. Bangladesh have been playing internationally for ten years now; surely at least one of them was worth a go? My search also led to a great interview with Tamim Iqbal, who put himself forward to play for a county.

When England were constantly playing Bangladesh earlier in the year, I spoke a bit about the development (or lack of it) of the Banga players - but the more first class cricket they play (especially in conditions such as England), the more experience and skills they can take into the test arena.

There are plenty of unpolished diamonds in the Bangladesh side, and there are a few players who can really benefit some counties (especially given the fact they're probably being payed a fraction of some other overseas stars). Shakib himself has proved that - taking wickets at an average of 22 this year - not bad going for a spinner playing at Worcester.

My google led me to an interview with Tamim Iqbal (the undoubted star of Bangladeshi cricket). Tamim's scored a few test hundreds, but plenty of low scores alongside the fast paced tons indicates a lack of first class experience and understanding. Tamim spoke to the Telegraph, and told of how he wanted to play county cricket, but "no one has phoned. Maybe nobody knows my number. Even I don't know my number". With counties already starting to look ahead and plan for next year, they could do much worse than Tamim. They'd just need to find out his mobile number first.

My favourite cricketer - Graeme Swann

I'd forgotten I'd written this. It was for Test Match Sofa, where they invited everyone to send in 100 words on their favourite cricketer, and why he was their favourite. I went over the 100 words, but it still feels rather short. It doesn't come anywhere near explaining the love for GP Swann.

Graeme Swann first came to my attention as a happy-go-lucky county pro who got on the radio just for being funny. He’d also played once for England, but overslept and missed the team bus. With blonde highlights in his hair and a spring in his step, he was a breath of fresh air when recalled to the England ODI team in 2007, and two wickets in his first over of test cricket also helped. Swann’s off-spin currently rivals anyone in world cricket, and he’s taken crucial wickets at crucial times (including an Ashes winning one). Now rated as the number three bowler in the world, Swanny is my ideal teammate; he’d win the game single-handedly on the pitch before having a great time in the bar afterwards. Which makes him my favourite cricketer in the world.



So now you know why.

A (sort of) Middlesex season review

It seems like only yesterday I was looking forward to the start of the county season. It wasn't too long ago that I was so optimistic about Middlesex's season - especially due to the form of Steven Finn. It seems like only moments ago that Middlesex started to lose some games, and I stopped writing about them.

After 7 county champo games in the blink of an eye (with a small smattering of 40 overs in there too), attention was turned to the T20, which was undoutably the focal point of the cricketing summer (mainly due to it's invasive nature and 170 odd matches).

But now the T20 has come and gone; the group stages of the CB40 are over, and Middlesex are playing their last game of the season.

Where has the time gone?

To say it has been an up and down season for Middlesex would be an understatement. There have been some electrifying performances; such as the CC wins over Surrey, Sussex and Glamorgan, but there too have been some timid defeats. Far too many timid defeats. In the T20, we had a 50% win/loss ratio, with some epic wins over Essex, Kent and Hampshire, following and preceding terrible defeates to Surrey, Gloucestershire and Sussex. And the less said about the CB40 the better!

So where now for Middlesex? Iain O'Brien's visa issues are well documented, and of course we all hope he's able to extend his stay at Lord's. Pedro Collins has to leave due to a change in Kolpak laws, and we all wish Pedro well; a good performer in all codes of the game this year. And Owais Shah is leaving, released by the club, perhaps due to money, perhaps due to poor performances, probably a combination of both.

Chris Rogers will arrive as an overseas player for next year, and if he can maintain his 60+ average at the top of the order, it could be a very good piece of business. Eoin Morgan is staying, having re-signed his contract, but the nature of the international calendar means we'll be without him, Strauss and Finn for long spells of the season.

While this season has been often one to forget for Middlesex, there have been some positives. There have been plenty more wins then last season - proof that Angus Fraser is slowly turning it around. The emergence of Toby Roland-Jones and John Simpson as very good young county players (and potential internationals in the future) is very encouraging, as has been some infrequent performances from Josh Davey, Adam London and Sam Robson.

The problem with Middlesex at the moment is that we're a team in transition; a side who are building on our way to bigger and better things. With very promising, talented youngsters, as well as some players like Dawid Malan who are continuing to flourish, we could be in with a chance of promotion next year if we remain consistent. But that's probably me just being blindly and optimistically deluded.

Luke Wright's 65

I've often spoken about Luke Wright. For years I've remained unaware of the reasons why he's in England's one day sides, as a 'bits and pieces' bowler, and a pretty cack batsman. Wright didn't bowl in Pakistan's innings, came in at 6 (a position far too elevated for a player that bad) and scored a duck. And before anyone claims that he's in because he's a decent fielder, he also shelled an absolute dolly in the field.

Upset and angered about Wright (well, I had to be upset and angered about something; England were doing well), I had a little look on Cricinfo to amazingly find that Luke has now played 65 times for England - 40 ODIs and 25 T20 games. Incredible! For a player who averages so badly with both bat and ball (17 with bat in T20s and 52 in ODIs with the ball), he seems to have a charmed life with England selectors.

So fuelled by rage that this chancer has played 65 times for my country, I have decided to list 65 players who haven't played for England, who have deserved to play more than Luke. And every time he plays for England here on in, I'll add another player to the list.


(Note - these players aren't in any order - they're just players who I would have played ahead of Wright).

1. Jimmy Adams
2. Adam Lyth
3. Jos Buttler
4. Darren Stevens
5. James Vince
6. Wes Durston
7. Dawid Malan
8. James Taylor
9. Chris Woakes
10. Graham Napier
11. Mark Pettini
12. James Hildreth
13. Tom Smith
14. The other Tom Smith
15. The other the other Tom Smith
16. Alfonso Thomas
17. Stewart Walters
18. Matthew Spriegel (obviously)
19. Jason Roy
20. Jaik Mickleburgh
21. Alex Hales
22. Andrew Gale
23. Arul Suppiah
24. Garry Park
25. Rory Hamilton-Brown
26. Sam Northeast
27. Jim Allenby
28. Matt Walker
29. Ali Brown
30. James Benning
31. Jonny Bairstow
32. Ben Scott
33. Andrew Hodd
34. Paul Horton
35. Scott Snell
36. Ben Harmison
37. Paul Franks
38. Ben Stokes
39. Joe Gatting
40. Neil Dexter
41. Gareth Berg
42. Scott Newman
43. John Simpson
44. Jonathan Clare
45. Graeme Wagg
46. Jake Needham
47. James Harris
48. Alex Blake
49. James Middlebrook
50. Will Beer
51. David (snigger) Willey
52. Glen Chapple
53. Gary Keedy
54. Greg Smith
55. Dan Briggs
56. Tim Murtagh
57. Toby Roland-Jones
58. Danny Evans
59. Robbie Williams (not that one)
60. Tim Linley
61. Luke Fletcher
62. David Wainwright
63. Simon Cook
64. David Masters
65. Peter Trego

Podcast - KP's Twitter Funk Up

Download this episode here

The backlash from sport’s biggest story: Kevin Pietersen swearing on Twitter. There’s also some stuff about the County Championship, CB40, England/Pakistan one day series, and something about some minor scandal involving some players and bookmakers.

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The Ashes Build-Up Starts Here

So it's official. And because it's on BBC Sport, it's very official. The build-up to the Ashes has officially started. (Well, I started my Ashes build-up on March 4th, when the tag Ashes 2010/11 Build-Up was born).

Oliver Brett (you know... him. You probably follow him on Twitter) has got a few of his TMS mates around, and they've all picked their Ashes squads. The rules are that the squads must comprise 16 players.

For what they're worth (to stop you leaving this site, as you might never return...), here are the squads.

Jonathan Agnew and Alec Stewart

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Steven Finn

Ian Bell
Steven Davies
Tim Bresnan
Ajmal Shahzad
Monty Panesar

Interesting selections from Aggers and Stu - the first choice eleven was no surprise but having Monty in there is somewhat of a surprise given that... well it's Monty! Jimmy Tredwell appeared to have the second-spinner's berth nailed down - but not in the eyes of these two who want the experience of Panesar as a potential replacement for an injured Swann.


Phil Tufnell

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Steven Finn

Ian Bell
Craig Kieswetter
Tim Bresnan
Michael Carberry
Monty Panesar

Tuffers also would pick Monty, as well as Kieswetter ahead of Davies, and Carberry in there as a replacement bat. He'd also have Bresnan as the replacement bowler.


Oliver Brett

Andrew Strauss
Alastair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Paul Collingwood
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
James Anderson
Steven Finn

Ian Bell
Steven Davies
Ryan Sidebottom
Ajmal Shahzad
Adil Rashid

Case of one Yorkie out, and one in as Adil Rashid is picked by BBC's Brett, and Tim Bresnan dropped for Ryan Sidebottom. Davies is retained as well.


Interesting stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. So for my two-pennies worth.

My picks

Strauss
Cook
Trott
Pietersen
Collingwood
Bell
Prior
Broad
Swann
Anderson
Finn

Morgan
Davies
Bresnan
Rashid
Woakes

So my first eleven has Bell in it ahead of Morgan (I know, sorry. But Morgs isn't really a test player yet), and has three uncapped players in the five man replacements. I see Davies both as my replacement wicket-keeper and as my reserve opener - a job he's performed well in for Surrey. Bresnan's in as my all-rounder, Rashid as an all-round spinner who can offer something different. And Chris Woakes. Who is a really promising player who will no doubt play many times for England, and can use the experience of an Ashes tour (even if he's only carrying drinks) as a massive step in his development.

Anyway, that's what I think. And yes, I may be going early (in that England have a T20/ODI series yet to play against Pakistan) but whatever. I'm excited for the Ashes.


Agree? Disagree? Tell me your thoughts in the comments, and I'll tell you why you're wrong. *Unless you agree with me, in which case, you're right.

Onions Making Me Cry

I've always liked Graham Onions. Maybe it's the funny name. Maybe it's the fact that he looks a lot like Mark Watson, a comedian I like. Maybe it's because I'm partial to Geordie accents. Maybe it's his defiant blocking batting. More likely it's because I like his swing bowling.

Back a few years ago I also liked Simon Jones. He too had a fun accent (Welsh). He too ripped through the Aussies with lethal swing.

Sadly, just like Onions, Jones was rather injury prone.

Life for a fast bowler has it's ups and downs, and as Iain O'Brien told me in one of my podcasts, injuries are never too far away. Simon Jones picked up a knee injury in the fourth 2005 Ashes test. There was a race against time to get him fit for the fifth test, a week later. Jones hasn't played for England since. Other than this year for Hampshire, Jones hasn't played with any real regularity since that heady win at Trent Bridge.

Onions got injured in training out in Bangladesh ahead of the tests. His injury was also first thought to be minor, but it soon became obvious that wasn't to be the case.

Like Jones in the intervening years since 2005, Onions has set himself targets of getting back playing. He's missed all of those targets. And today the news was announced that he's having a back operation which rules him out for 9 months. Officially ruling him out of an Ashes tour he still held increasingly faint hopes of making.

When Jones first got injured, people started to fill in for him, but as time went on, made the position their own. Onions' third seamer position went to Steven Finn, who appears to have it nailed down for the foreseeable future. He's seemingly slipped down the pecking order behind Bresnan and Shahzad.

Like Jones, Onions could well recover from his serious injury to play at a good level. However, like Jones, the cut throat nature of international cricket means Onions may have played his last for England. This makes me sad. You could say that Onions is making me cry.