It was a week of the IPL final, prolific opening batsmen and a controversial run-out. Yorkshire's openers Adam Lyth and Alex Lees put on 375 in the Championship and, with the former's astonishing acrobatic catch 'assist' in the T20 win over Lancashire accompanying his 230, Lyth is a shoo-in for my first position. Lees doesn't join him, and neither does Durham's Mark Stoneman (187) because Alex Hales produced a couple of peaches. Given carte blanche to go for his shots by Notts skipper Chris Read, Hales thumped 167 in 133 balls in a first-class game, followed by a more familiar T20 blast against Derbyshire.
Stoneman's partner and occasional England leg-spinner option, Scott Borthwick almost hit a 'double' in the rain-truncated Middlesex draw, and is my number three. At four I was even tempted to include Vinoo Mankad. His name was mentioned more often than just about any other cricketer this week, as the alleged originator of the bowler-runs-out-non-striker dismissal in the 1940s. However, he misses out only because he has been dead for nearly 36 years. He is eclipsed by my wicket-keeper selection. No, not Jos Buttler. His brilliant ODI 121 for England took him close but his failure to heed two warnings of excessive backing up by Senanayake let him down. Instead, Wriddhiman Saha's IPL final heroic innings of 115 in 55 balls merits recognition. No winners' medal but he can look back proudly on his place in my Team of the Week!
Samit Patel keeps on scoring runs and taking wickets for Nottinghamshire, and this week was no exception. Yet he still can't get anywhere near the England set-up. His 156 was narrowly overtaken by Ed Joyce's unbeaten 164 for Sussex in the same match, and both players keep out other high run-makers in Moeen Ali and Alviro Petersen.
Like Saha and Buttler, Darren Christian's blistering short-form innings with Middlesex was in a losing cause. His T20 assault of 129 in 57 deliveries included twelve fours and no fewer than ten sixes. He even added a pair of wickets, too. Two other all-rounders were in fine form for their respective counties. Glamorgan's Jim Allenby contributed almost a hundred runs in the Championship then blitzed 96 not out at Taunton in a classic T20 encounter. They won despite a typical Trego onslaught, as Peter plundered 94 in a run chase which fell just a few runs short. His 3-37 and 3-25 in the four-day game versus Lancashire showed he is more than just a limited-overs specialist. But then we Somerset fans have known that for years!
My team bats well down the order this week but my final two are bowling specialists. Danny Briggs has played T20 for England but his Championship 5-50 and 2-22 for Hampshire against Derbyshire make him the top spinner of the past seven days. Palladino and Shantry had their moments but Reece Topley made it a return from injury to remember. He claimed ten wickets for Essex against Glamorgan, including a first innings 6-41. In my view, he is a left-armer with more potential than Gurney.
To summarise: Lyth (York), Hales (Nott), Borthwick (Dur), Saha (Kings, +), Patel (Nott), Joyce (Sus, *), Christian (Mid), Allenby (Gla), Trego (Som), Briggs (Ham), Topley (Ess). Twelfth man: Mankad (Ind)....
