Surrey pace bowlers hold key to County Championship

Surrey have reserves of pace bowling like no other county except Lancashire, and this season the holders of the county championship have to play four of their home games on the new sideways-pitches at Old Trafford which are not as pacey as their traditional ones.

While counties are stocked with fast-medium bowlers — and some with nothing but fast-medium — very few have anyone fast. In Stuart Meaker, who debuted for England’s 50-over team last winter, Surrey have one; and, rarer still, in Chris Jordan they have a quick-bowling all-rounder.

With Jade Dernbach, Tim Linley and Jon Lewis — signed from Gloucestershire – who has been nibbling the ball around on Surrey’s pre-season tours of Somerset and Essex, Surrey have the fuel in an era of reduced power-supplies; and there is also the possibly that Chris Tremlett might recover from his latest injury in time for the championship run-in.

The brown caps, or brown helmets, have batsmen too. The younger ones are shot-a-ball merchants more suited to the 20- and 40-over formats, but Surrey’s resources — as one of the richer, or least bankrupt, counties — have enabled them to sign veterans for them to bat around.

Given that county cricket now attracts only the left-overs from overseas — players not wanted by the Indian Premier League, whose fifth season extends to the end of May — Jacques Rudolph has been as big as any off-season signing this winter.

Rudolph may not have proved himself a Test opening batsman, but at number six he is not so much of an ‘lbw candidate’, has got away with closing the bat face and re-established himself in South Africa’s Test side. His relative absence from Yorkshire last season was a major reason for their demotion; and his acquisition by Surrey for the first two months of this season should guarantee their staying up, and maybe more.

The big question is whether Mark Ramprakash, at 42, can make any more big hundreds, especially after Rudolph departs for South Africa’s tour of England. Last season’s average of 33 was Ramprakash’s lowest since his debut year of 1987, and he made a single first-class century, leaving him on 114 in all.

Ramprakash got in last season, like Andrew Strauss in recent Tests, but didn’t go on from his 20s and 30s. Last week, when captaining MCC in Abu Dhabi against Lancashire, and when batting against a pink ball was fine except at twilight, he began his 26th first-class season with a 7 and 6.

As an ever higher proportion of top-level runs are scored in limited-overs formats, and an ever lower proportion in first-class cricket, nobody in future will come close to the 35,000 first-class runs that Ramprakash has clocked; and even Sachin Tendulkar, with 78, and Ricky Ponting, 77, are not going to approach his tally of first-class centuries.

This season’s county championship would round off not only an individual career but an era.

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Reece Topley displays his lofty potential for Essex with seven-wicket match haul on Championship debut

Dream start: Reece Topley dismissed a host of international batsmen on his championship debut for Essex Photo: PA

The talking point of the day was the performance of latest Essex ‘find’ Reece Topley, who took five wickets for 46 runs in the Kent second innings to finish with match figures of 29.4-5-114-7 on his championship debut.

The 17-year-old 6ft 7in fast bowler, who attends the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook, is taking examinations next month - and he posed a number of probing questions for a succession of Kent batsmen in this contest which is set for an absorbing conclusion.

Gaining significant swing movement, Topley claimed experienced internationals Geraint Jones and James Tredwell to add to those of Rob Key and Joe Denly on the previous day.

His performance allowed the hosts to dismiss Kent for 238 after the visitors had started the day 146 for three.

and they ended the day needing a further 87 runs to win the season opener but with only four wickets intact.

England players Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara both played themselves in and seemed set to make the significant contributions that the home side were seeking, before both fell in the 30s.

Ashes hero Cook had timed the ball sweetly to move to 31 with six boundaries, putting on 60 with Billy Godleman before he became the first wicket to fall when trapped leg before wicket on the back foot by James Tredwell.

Bopara treated the crowd to trademark drives on both sides of the wicket and looked in menacing form until, with his score on 39 out of 161, he too was adjudged lbw when undone by a ball from Darren Stevens that kept low.

Stevens collected his third wicket of the innings when he had Tom Westley caught at first slip for 17, before Tim Phillips joined Foster to play out the remaining five overs of the day.

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LV County Championship previews

 Follow the Bear: Darren Maddy returns to action for Warwickshire against Worcestershire at Edgbaston Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Warwickshire v Worcestershire at Edgbaston

Warwickshire are missing key all-rounder Chris Woakes because of sore shins, an injury that will keep him sidelined for up to three weeks.

Seamer Naqaash Tahir and batsman Darren Maddy join the squad but captain Jim Troughton has failed to recover from a bruised shoulder.

Moeen Ali will captain Worcestershire for the first time against his former county in the absence of Daryl Mitchell who has a side strain. Wicketkeeper Ben Scott has rejoined on a month’s loan from Middlesex and displaces Ben Cox.

Yorkshire v Hampshire at Headingley

England seamer Tim Bresnan will make his first championship appearance for Yorkshire since the corresponding fixture at Scarborough last August.

All-rounder Richard Pyrah suffered a knee injury batting against Kent on Sunday. Seamer Moin Ashraf rejoins the squad. Former England seamer Kabir Ali is in line for his first Hampshire appearance in a year following his recovery from a knee injury.

Left arm seamer James Tomlinson may make his seasonal debut having overcome a foot injury but Friedel de Wet misses out.

Division Two

Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire at Bristol

Gloucestershire, who have signed Ireland all-rounder Kevin O’Brien for the rest of the season, will be without former New Zealand batsman Hamish Marshall who broke a thumb against Middlesex.

Seamer Ian Saxelby replaces Marshall. Northamptonshire, the only side unbeaten in all cricket this season, have added left-arm seamers David Lucas and David Willey and slow left-armer Tom Brett to the side that beat Kent.

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Gary Keedy has a great chance to spin Lancashire to a championship victory over Sussex

The redevelopment of Old Trafford means that Lancashire will be playing seven Championship matches on outgrounds this summer, five of them alongside the Mersey at Aigburth.

Seven matches, seven likely result pitches if Blackpool and Southport live up to expectations.

And if Lancashire win more than they lose, they might just be in contention for that elusive first outright Championship since 1934.

With Sussex still needing 78 to make the Red Rose bat again, they should wrap up the first of those victories on a pitch offering increasing help to the left-arm spin of Gary Keedy.

It was Keedy who made the initial breakthrough after Chris Nash and Ed Joyce had given Sussex, trailing by 229 on first innings, a flying start second time around.

They had reached 65 in 11 overs when Lancashire skipper Glen Chapple turned to Keedy five overs before tea and in his second over, Joyce slog-swept to the leaping Sajid Mahmood at mid-wicket.

Oliver Newby pinned Nash leg before in the next over and when Luke Wells followed Joyce’s rash example and was caught by Stephen Moore, Sussex were still 124 behind and Lancashire smelt blood.

Murray Goodwin and Joe Gatting had other ideas, however, denying the Lancashire attack for 19 overs in reducing the arrears by another 46 runs.

Earlier Lancashire’s highest Championship total since August 2009 was underpinned by half centuries of differing character from Steven Croft, Tom Smith and Gareth Cross.

The fluent Croft, who hit eight fifties last season without going on to reach three figures, looked set to put the record straight until he was well caught by Joyce at slip off Monty Panesar’s second delivery for 64..

Cross, who who made his debut behind the wicket in 2005 and has finally been given an extended run following the departure of Luke Sutton to Derbyshire, creamed a belligerent 63, with eight fours, until he heaved at Panesar and was bowled.

And after the England spinner had dismissed Chapple first ball, the dogged Smith, whose half century came from 127 balls with six fours, was bowled off a bottom edge by Amjad Khan.

That solid effort by the middle order was enough to give Lancashire a commanding lead that gives Keedy the opportunity to prove the matchwinner on Monday.

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LV County Championship: match previews

 Back in the swing: Matt Prior returns to county championship action for Sussex against Nottinghamshire this week Photo: ACTION IMAGES

Durham v Somerset, Chester-le-Street

Durham’s championship captain Phil Mustard has recovered from an infected toe and will play his first game in a month. Michael Richardson makes way in the only change to the side that beat Warwickshire.

Somerset have added leg-spinner Max Waller to the side that beat Worcestershire. Mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis has played his last match having linked up with the Sri Lankan tourists.

Sussex v Nottinghamshire, Hove

Sussex wicketkeeper Matt Prior will face his England team-mates Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, the new England Twenty20 captain, as the trio make their first Championship appearances of the season.

Sussex paceman Amjad Khan has recovered from a groin strain. Akhil Patel, younger brother of Samit, has been called up by Nottinghamshire to replace Alex Hales, who broke his jaw against Yorkshire.

DIVISION TWO

Derbyshire v Essex, Derby

Ross Whiteley has been recalled by Derbyshire in place of all-rounder Jon Clare, who has been ruled out with a strained bicep.

Essex have dropped opening batsman Bill Godleman, who has mustered only 131 runs in 10 innings this season. Reserve wicketkeeper Adam Wheater will make his first championship appearance of the season as a specialist batsman.

Glamorgan v Kent, Cardiff

Glamorgan, who have not beaten Kent in a championship match in Cardiff since 1967, are without seamer Huw Waters because of a back injury, but have included all-rounder Jim Allenby, off-spinner Robert Croft and seamer Will Owen to the side beaten by Essex.

Injury-ravaged Kent welcome back all-rounder Matt Coles from a hamstring strain in place of Adam Ball and have added Scotland seamer Dewald Nel to their squad.

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Majority of teams oppose reducing County Championship to 14 matches a side

 Job done: Hampshire celebrate victory during the Friends Provident T20 Final over Somerset at The Rose Bowl on Aug 14 last year Photo: GETTY IMAGES

When county chairmen and chief executives met at Lord’s two weeks ago to discuss possible changes to the structure for next year, eight counties asked for more time to consider their position.

The ECB then sent out a questionnaire to counties which had to be returned to Lord’s by last Friday.

Telegraph Sport understands the questionnaire is likely to produce a 12-6 vote in favour of retaining the 16-match championship structure.

Counties have been warned that retaining the existing structure would probably be at the expense of English participation in the Champions League T20, whose recent scheduling has clashed with the end of the English season. Last season Hamshire and Somerset lost out when a change of dates by the Champions League caused a serious overlap with the ECB’s schedule.

Withdrawal from the Champions League would cost each county £50,000, significantly more to the two who qualify for the global event, but the majority of counties regard the integrity of the County Championship as being more important.

“I don’t think that the Champions League should determine what we are doing in county cricket,” said Leicestershire chief executive Mike Siddall. “We don’t know how the Champions League will stand up in the long term and we don’t believe that the ECB should be bowing down to a competition that benefits just two counties.”

The 14-strong ECB board, which includes four county chairmen in Peter Wright (Nottinghamshire), Colin Graves (Yorkshire), Ian Lovett (Middlesex) and Nigel Hilliard (Essex), must now decide whether to support the view of the majority of counties or back Team England who would like to reduce the amount of county cricket.

The Professional Cricketers’ Association canvassed its 18 county representatives which produced mixed messages. The representatives, who consulted with their players, voted 14-4 in favour of retaining a 16-match County Championship but were split 10-8 for a 14-match format if it meant sacrificing playing in the Champions League.

“We believe that the County Championship is it stands produces good cricketers for England and competitive and intense cricket. We mess with it at our peril,” said PCA chief executive Angus Fraser.

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The majority of teams oppose reducing County Championship 14 matches to a side

Work done: Hampshire celebrate the victory in the final of the Friends Provident T20 over Somerset at the Rose Bowl on August 14 last year Photo: GETTY IMAGES

When county Presidents and business leaders gathered in the Lord two weeks to discuss possible changes to the structure for the next year, eight counties requested more time to consider their position.

The ECB then sent a questionnaire to the counties which had to be returned to the Lord by last Friday.

That sport Telegraph understands that the questionnaire is likely to produce a vote of 12-6 to keep the structure of 16-match Championship.

Counties have been notified that retaining the existing structure would probably to the detriment of recent English Champions League T20, including scheduling participation has faced the end of the English season. The season was last power and Somerset lost when a change of date by the Champions League has caused a serious overlap with the calendar of the ECB.

The withdrawal of the Champions League would cost each county £ 50,000, significantly more to the two who qualify for the world event, but the majority of counties see the integrity of the County Championship as being more important.

"I do not think that the Champions League must determine what we do in county cricket,", said Chief Executive Mike Siddall Leicestershire. "We do not know how the Champions League will be standing in the long term and we do not believe that the ECB should be bowing down to a competition that benefits just two counties."

14-Fort ECB Council, which includes four Presidents Peter Wright counties (Nottinghamshire), Colin graves (Yorkshire), Ian Lovett (Middlesex) and Nigel Hilliard (Essex), must now decide whether the opinion of the majority of counties or team England who wishes to reduce the amount of cricket for the County of return.

Professional cricketers Association review in-depth its 18 representatives of County produces ambiguous messages. The representatives, who consulted with their players, vote 14-4 in favour of keeping a 16-match County Championship, but were split 10-8 for a 14-match format if it meant sacrificing playing in the Champions League.

"We believe that the County Championship is that it provides good cricket for England and intense and competitive cricket players." "We mess with it at our peril,", said the BCP Executive Chief Angus Fraser.

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