In the last week of the county cricket season, there were some outstanding performances, some contributing to title or promotion success, while others were ultimately in a losing cause.
Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jade Dernbach were the stars of Surrey's CB40 triumph, but Somerset's Jos Buttler's mature 86 really caught the eye. Similarly, his team-mate James Hildreth struck a long overdue big century in the Championship but the opposition produced a magnificent team effort to win at Taunton and claim that elusive title.
Gareth Berg has been out of first team action for Middlesex for three months but saved one of his all-round specials for the last game of the season, while Pragyan Ojha enjoyed another ten-wicket match for Surrey as they clinched the maximum points needed to secure promotion with their London neighbours. There were notable knocks for Murray Goodwin (170) and the recently prolific Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who reached three figures for the third time in five innings for Warwickshire. He even hit three sixes! In opposition, opener Liam Dawson finished his first innings unbeaten on 152.
However, my Player of the Week, the last one during the English summer, is a 21 year-old from Northampton and son of another well-known former English all-rounder and Test umpire to boot. His name is David Willey. Although Northants won their final fixture, it wasn't enough to hold off Surrey's late surge for promotion. That can't be laid at Willey's door. He started by striking 64 in 69 balls to bolster his side's first innings, then proceeded to take 5-29 and 5-46 as Gloucestershire slipped to defeat. Unlike his dad, David is left-handed, and bowls fast medium, not off-breaks. In his two-year career, he hasn't taken many wickets and almost doubled his first-class haul in this one game, as well as hitting his highest score with the bat. Unlike many youngsters he is not a biff-bang T20-meister, but his medium pace bowling has been quite successful in that format, another one to watch when the domestic circus comes round again next Spring. One for the Lions, too, perhaps?
