From my team of 2016, Keaton Jennings and Ben Duckett were tried and discarded, while Tom Westley just about did enough against the West Indies to justify selection for the Ashes tour. As for the 2017 county competitions, newly-promoted Essex became champions by a country mile while their predecessors Middlesex were relegated alongside a woeful Warwickshire outfit. Worcestershire replaced them, as did Nottinghamshire, who also grabbed both limited-overs trophies in Chris Read’s final season. With only eight teams in Division One, by mid-September most of them were still at risk of relegation. Not sure if that’s a healthy thing but it certainly concentrated the mind, especially at Somerset’s final match at home to Middlesex.
Anyway, who
were the men who contributed most to domestic cricket across all three formats?
Openers:
In terms of
first-class cricket, there were few consistent run-scorers.at the very top of
the order. Alastair Cook helped Essex to a fine start to the summer, averaging
67 in all and, perhaps improbably, was the most prolific player in the Royal
London Cup. However, my top two pretty much pick themselves. Alongside Rory
Burns, Mark Stoneman made 1,156 Championship runs at 60.84 and 456 in the
50-over tournament for Surrey, and Daryl Mitchell’s seven centuries for
Division Two champions Worcestershire were critical.
Middle-order:
Let’s deal
first with the no-brainer. Kumar Sangakkara was utterly magnificent. In only 16
innings he reached three figures eight times, five of them consecutive. He
stroked runs in either innings and, with the openers, ensured Surrey attained
more batting bonus points than anybody else by a mile. If only their bowlers
had been any good, they may have given Essex a run for their money. In all
competitions the retiring Sri Lankan legend scored 2,156 for his county. Fabulous!
Kent’s Joe Denly was the second highest scorer overall. With Sam Northeast, he
often held their batting together in Division Two and tonked almost 600 runs in
the T20 Blast.
When
considering Nottinghamshire batsmen, many don’t get further than Alex Hales.
However, the duo of Samit Patel and Riki Wessels were far more influential with
the bat, Wessels particularly effective in the T20, often doubling as
wicketkeeper. Patel crunched two double-centuries and his spin was typically
miserly in the short stuff, too. I should also mention Mark Cosgrove’s
consistency amidst the misery that was Leicestershire’s batting line-up.
Nevertheless, my number five slot goes to South African Colin Ingram. He scored
over a thousand limited overs runs in all, helping Glamorgan to a rare Finals
Day appearance with bat and ball.
All-Rounder:
As ever,
top-class batsmen-bowlers were thin on the ground. While Ben Stokes was doing
his thing for England and outside Bristol clubs, Peter Trego unusually quiet in
Taunton, Samit Patel focussing on his batting and Chris Woakes out of county
action, the stage was set for a couple of doughty county old-stagers. Steven
Mullaney is often written off as a dibbly-dobbler medium-pacer who can bat a
bit. However, I bet most counties would love to have a Mullaney in their squad:
he has the sound technique to open in the four-dayers, provide valuable late-order
swishes in the 50-overs and keep the runs down in Twenty20. Yet he is eclipsed
by my old favourite, Darren Stevens. It speak volumes for Kent’s thin attack that
a 41 year-old opens their bowling but he finished the season on a record 60 Championship
wickets at barely 18 apiece, while notching 707 runs at over 41, and that
ignores almost 400 in the one-dayers. His age suggests retirement can’t be far
away but at the moment he s simply irreplaceable for Kent.
Wicket-keeper:
Much
attention was paid to the progress of Lancashire’s Alex Davies, promoted to
open in the Championship. He made a good start, too, while their other young
opener Habeeb struggled. At 31, his namesake Steven Davies took time to find
his feet at Somerset but then so did the rest of the side. It was his runs and
stumpings which did so much to rescue the county from relegation and he seemed
to perform best against his old Surrey team mates. Ha-ha, Mr Batty! Surrey’s
Ben Foakes also improved his batting but Ollie Pope tended to man the stumps in
the Blast. I ought to mention James Foster’s fine second half of the season for
Essex but my selection goes, narrowly to Middlesex’s John Simpson. Too often
his runs at six or seven held them together and nobody claimed more dismissals
on the county circuit.
Bowlers:-
While the
likes of Anderson, Broad, Ball and Finn were restricted in their conty
appearances, it was left to 24 year-old Essex seamer Jamie Porter to reprise
last year’s Division Two success at the higher level. His return of 75 wickets
at only 16.82 was phenomenal and makes him the obvious choice, besides
Sangakkara, for my Eleven. Worcestershire skipper Joe Leach was also rock
steady with the new ball, Ben Coad was a real find for Yorkshire, Liam Norwell
did great work for Gloucestershire and, unlike Surrey’s Curran brothers, Craig
Overton seemed to progress for Somerset on unhelpful pitches. But my other two
seam spots are reserved for Kyle Abbott and Jofra Archer. The 30 year-old South
African nicked 60 cheap first-class wickets for Hampshire as well as adding
useful runs at eight or nine. At 22, Archer blew out of nowhere for Sussex with
his fast bowling. The Bajan’s batting was also strong enough for him to end the
Championship summer averaging a very healthy 45.56. Definitely one to watch at
home and overseas.
In terms of
spin, Jack Leach enjoyed a fruitful September for Somerset, but the normally reliable
Jeetan Patel’s season went like much of Warwickshire’s cricket, downhill fast.
It is therefore a simple decision to pick Simon Harmer in my XI. I admit my
ignorance of the Pretorian before 2017 but his aggressive offbreaks despatched
90 batsmen in all competitions and did so much to carry Essex to the title.
What a shrewd Kolpak signing he turned out to be.
In summary, based
on stats and my Teams of the Week, my County Team of 2017 is:-
Stoneman
(Sur), Mitchell (Wor), Denly (Ken), Sangakkara (Sur), Ingram (Gla), Stevens
(Ken), Simpson (Mid), Abbott (Ham), Archer (Sus), Harmer (Ess), Porter (Ess)
12th
Man: S Patel (Not)
