Just one Player of the Week this time, although there were plenty of strong candidates. In the IPL, Aussies Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson shone for their respective sides, and Amit Mishra was again at his deadliest for the Chargers, but none will make further appearances in the tournament because they failed to reach the last four. In England, Eoin Morgan was also on the losing side, playing for the Lions against the Sri Lankans, but his 193 was clearly enough to persuade selectors that his innings had earned him a chance to repeat the feat against the same opposition in the First Test next week. A pity in a way as he had put the IPL cash ahead of playing real cricket but the change of scene hadn't done him much harm! Chris Nash scored a couple of centuries for Sussex in both four- and one-day competitions, while Rory Hamilton-Brown, James Harris, Niall O'Brien, Alex Gidman, Ben Stokes and Gordon Muchall each btted or bowled themselves into contention. However, my winner this week is Graham Napier.
The Essex all-rounder made his name three years ago with a barely credible 152 in a Twenty20 match against Sussex although he had been selected for the ECB Academy in 2004 without pushing on for higher honours. That single T20 innings got him into the England World Cup squad and the IPL but it proved to be a false dawn. Following a back injury last summer, his first-class appearances have been few and far between and indeed in List A cricket he boasts a superior record with the ball than with the bat, and That Innings remains his only limited-over century of any kind.
The 16 sixes he scored in the single innings in 2008 was a world best but now he can add another record to his achievements: equalling Andrew Symonds' feat of smashing sixteen sixes in a single first-class innings! Against Surrey on Wednesday he plundered 196 in 130 balls, adding 19 fours to the huge number of boundaries which cleared the ropes. Like Morgan, the break from batting against good opposition evidently worked in his favour as his previous innings (11) came against the Unicorns and the two before that were for the Second XI in April.
At 31, Napier should be in his prime but increasingly looks merely like a good medium pacer who can take wickets in one-dayers, with the occasional foray into the County Championship. I don't think England will be fooled into believing that one incredible innings is a sign of a genuine world superstar but if he can entertain crowds with such amazing displays of strokeplay, even only once every three years, he should retain his county contract. Perhaps the only man who regrets Napier's return to form is Gareth Batty, who bore the brunt of the Essex man's brute force last week! Symonds' record for most sixes in a first-class match remains intact but Graham Napier can sleep easier knowing he also has my Player of the Week accolade on his cricketing CV!
