As a cricket fan, I'm not enamoured of the central contract system. As soon as a fast bowler takes a few wickets, he is whisked off to the Performance Squad, tours with the Lions, maybe makes the England squad and if he's really good, will hardly ever grace the county game again. No wonder young people have no interest in the domestic game if their local heroes aren't allowed to be seen outside the expensive Test arenas. I fear for Somerset even more now that the Overton twins have been introduced to the ODI set-up.
These days the most consistent quality bowlers in county cricket are neither English nor young; they are Australian thirty-somethings Michael Hogan and Steve Magoffin.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Hoges a few times since moving to Cardiff. Since coming to Glamorgan in 2013, he has been mightily impressive in all formats. That year he captured 100 wickets in all competitions then in 2014 he took 63 in the Championship at under 20 apiece. Unfortunately he missed the start of this summer’s campaign but is starting to regain that metronomic consistency Sophia Gardens has come to expect. His long stride and high action make him so difficult to play. In Saturday’s T20 clash with Somerset, he conceded only 14 runs off four overs, including the last, and even delivered a maiden!
He may be 34 but only made his first-class debut six year ago, when Western Australia plucked him from club cricket in NSW. He took 3-29 in his debut, taking the scalps of Chris Rogers and David Hussey in the same over. In fact, he is in Glamorgan on a British passport so maybe he’s a better bet than Mark Wood or Steve Finn should a crisis unfold. OK, that’s not going to happen, but he has an impressive record. His averages in first-class, List A and T20 formats are almost identical, and all are sub-25. Pretty darned good!
Hogan made his debuts Down Under in the same WA team as Steve Magoffin, who has really found his feet at Sussex in the past few seasons. A year older but just as tall, the Perth-educated Queenslander also had a late start, aged 24, before swinging and seaming his way through several successful Aussie summers. Furthering his cricketing education in the county game, Magoffin seems to be more settled on the South Coast, where he is now in his fourth year.
Unlike Hogan, Magoffin rarely plays the shorter formats but as long as he is taking wickets and conceding so few runs in the four-day tournament, Sussex won’t care one jot. In 2015, he’s already captured 43 Division One wickets at 22 apiece, including twelve at Trent Bridge and four in his first three overs yesterday against leaders Durham. In eleven years, he has almost 500 in first-class cricket, a creditable total from 127 matches.
All in all, batsmen should never ignore Messrs Magoffin and Hogan. They may not be household names but they are consistently amongst the top performers on the county circuit. They may not be about to be plundered by the ECB or CA so enjoy them while you can on a ground near you.
