A Retiring Cricketers Team of 2018

Autumn Test and ODI series are in full swing. However, I can’t help looking back upon the careers of cricketers who have bowed out after the latest season in England. The following twelve players make a pretty strong team, too.

He may not be a household name but Johannes Myburgh’s popularity with the Somerset faithful earned him a warm round of applause when he left the field at Taunton for the last time in August. The Pretorian had been at the county for only five seasons yet his one-day performances in particular, including a 42-ball T20 century against Essex a few months ago, endeared him to West Country crowds.

In his native South Africa, Myburgh had once played alongside Jonathan Trott, who also migrated to England to further his career. He did pretty well out of it, too. He eventually qualified for England and, after making piles of runs for Warwickshire, made his debut in the 2009 Ashes series. After a few years his Test batting average was way up in the sixties but by the time he retired in 2015 it was back at a still-decent 44. Although an even better 50-over batsman, he was still doing a sterling job alongside Ian Bell in the County Championship in 2018, striking 124 in his penultimate match.

Another South African-born batsman, Nick Compton has also called it a day. Part of the great Compton cricketing dynasty, he began and ended his county career at Middlesex but it was at good old Somerset that he reached his peak. In 2012, he came within a whisker of achieving the traditional landmark of 1000 runs before the end of May in 2012 and played 16 Tests for England. His steady style seemed well suited to five-dayers but he made only two centuries and was discarded two years ago He’ll be fine as an eloquent pundit, I’m sure.

Former Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams is also retiring at the age of 38. Despite his immense value as batsman and fielder to his county, he never quite managed a full senior international appearance ad, after a mediocre 2018, it was probably a good time to step back.

Paul Collingwood was another one-county stalwart, representing his home side of Durham for more than two decades. Including his 300+ appearances for England, he has quite with more than 30,000 runs, 400 wickets and 600 catches to his name. Not as tabloid-friendly as KP, Flintoff et al, he was nonetheless one of England’s finest all-round cricketers for a decade and was still an effective contributor to Durham’s cause into his 40s.

Will Gidman, who has also quite the game, was another all-rounder but who enjoyed a relatively brief stint at the top on the county circuit. He was already 26 when, alongside older brother Alex, he enjoyed a stellar season for Gloucestershire. Notts enticed him away in 2015, followed by Kent but his best cricket was behind him when he left the game aged 33.

Like Gidman, South Australian Stephen Crook may not be a familiar name but for the last several seasons he was a huge hit at Northamptonshire. His seam bowling and big hitting helped the county to two T20 titles but apparently his interests extend well beyond cricket so he won’t be bored in retirement.

Sean Ervine is probably better known, and for numerous summers was a banker in my fantasy cricket team. For Hampshire, he didn’t necessarily make loads of hundreds or collect five-fors but he was one of those consistent all-rounders who would always do a job for you. He split acrimoniously from the Zimbabwe set-up in 2004, otherwise he may have enjoyed more international success.

James Foster must be one of the unluckiest of England players in recent times. One of the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the country he had the misfortune of being a contemporary of Chris Read and Matt Prior, and picked up only seven Test caps in 2001 and 2002. However England’s loss was Essex’s gain and he was a hero at Chelmsford, regaining his place in 2017 to win the Championship crown. He lost his spot this year, though, and at 38 reluctantly stepped down.

James Tredwell was another whose England career was restricted by a parallel career; in his case, Graeme Swann. The mild-mannered, follically challenged Kent off-spinner was never destined for superstar status and he must be one of the very few cricketers who played for two different counties simultaneously (not in the same match obviously!) in different formats.

Another massive Fantasy Cricket points scorer in the past several seasons is Steve Magoffin. A bit of a county journeyman, the Aussie seamer was regularly near the top of the wickets table and bowling averages while at Sussex between 2012 and 2017 and he retires with a total of 597 first-class wickets at an incredible average of just 23.60. Understated, unsung but often unplayable.

Finally a mention for Andy Hodd. His whole career seems to have been spent as understudy, first to Tim Ambrose or Matt Prior at Sussex, then Jonny Bairstow at Yorkshire but when he did step up into the first XI he accumulated more than 5,000 senior runs and 400 dismissals. It seems fitting to make him my 2018 retirees’ twelfth man. Sorry, Hoddy!

Somerset On Top

It’s been a while since I could wax lyrical about Somerset sitting on top of a table, but their sixth Royal London Cup win of the summer, against Hampshire, confirmed their first place in the South division. At long last, Mahela Jayawardene and Jim Allenby shared a decent opening partnership which provided the solid foundation required. Somerset earned a home quarter-final against Worcestershire, whose victories over Lancashire and Nottinghamshire were enough to qualify from an extraordinarily close North division.

Four counties finished at the top on nine points, while bottom-placed Lancs were only three points behind. Tom Fell was on great form for Worcester, aggregating 179 runs without being dismissed. Northants topped the group after easily hunting down a target of 273 set by Derbyshire at Wantage Road. Cobb, Duckett and Keogh each passed 60. Spare a thought for the opposing opener Ben Slater. His career-best 148 not out was all in vain.

Yorkshire lost twice this week yet still contrived to make it into the knockout stage. Their heavy defeat to Warwickshire proved decisive in the group. Jonathan Trott’s century and seven wickets to the spinners Jeetan Patel and Ateeq Javid ensured the Midlanders’ progress to a home tie against Essex.

Essex lost one game to the weather but Kent capitalised by winning their final two matches and taking the runners-up slot. It was good to see Will Gidman taking a rare opportunity to snap some vital wickets for them, including 3-28 against his old side Gloucestershire.

Surrey took the fourth quarter-final position thanks to batting second in a 16-over thrash at Lord’s. Their previous match had been ruined by the rain so it was with relief that the weather relented to allow play of sorts in the money-spinning London derby. It also prevented Hampshire from going through, despite some consistent performances by Will Smith (143 runs), Ryan McLaren and Liam Dawson, who scored a rapid hundred against Glamorgan and took a few wickets at Taunton.

It’s years since Hants failed to reach the latter stages of a limited-overs competition after once dominating the white-ball game. The same was true of Somerset, although we rarely converted finals into trophies. Dare I hope 2016 will be an exception?!

Team of the Week: Slater (Der), Denly (Ken), Fell (Wor), Smith (Ham), Trott (War), Dawson (Ham), O’Brien (Lei +), McLaren (Ham), Franklin (Mid), Berg (Ham), Coles (Ken)

Team of the Week 25th April 2014: Cook and Maxwell in prime form

For my first Team of the Week of the 2014 'summer', there's a good mix of the familiar, the new and the forgotten. In England, it was a good week for opening batsmen. Greg Smith (Leicestershire) and Derbyshire's recruit from Lancashire, Stephen Moore, each made hundreds, but they are edged out by Essex's Alastair Cook and Lancashire's Sydney-born Paul Horton. Cook picked up 166 runs in a draw, presumably happy to let James Foster do the skippering. Meanwhile, Horton scored one run more, Mr Consistent with 83 and 84. He ended the 2013 season with three hundreds and two ducks in the final four first-class matches, and the Red Roses will be relying heavily on him for runs this year.

Nick Compton (100 not out) and Gary Ballance (174) each reminded England selectors of their middle-order Test credentials, even if they were both born in Africa. The Yorkshire batsman will probably have the edge once Sri Lanka come to town next month. Much as I'd like to, I can't ignore the IPL. Glenn Maxwell added another two big scores, 89 and 95, to his opening blast for Kings XI Punjab. Oddly, he's never made a T20 hundred in 65 innings but he came very close this week.

My wicketkeeper of the week is Tim Ambrose. Several yeara ago, he was the England number one, scoring runs for fun, but then Matt Prior and, later on, depression, got the better of him. Last year he seemed rejuvenated at Warwickshire and this week, he not only contributed a useful cameo with the bat, he claimed six catches in the first innings. Facing seamers of the quality of Woakes and Barker, he should pouch many more.

Peter Trego was welcomed back to Somerset's starting XI and inevitably enjoyed a decent performance in the draw at Durham. However, Gloucestershire's Will Gidman gets the nod as all-rounder. A late developer, cricket-wise, he has eclipsed his older brother and county captain Alex, albeit more as a bowler than batsman. His 3-43 and 6-50 against Glamorgan bolstered his impressive career stats to 169 first-class wickets at under 21 apiece. Even allowing for the fact that they've mostly come in the Championship's second flight, that's pretty good going.

Jack Brooks is another who didn't make the county grade until his mid-20s but he excelled for Yorkshire this week, taking eight Northants wickets. He of the distinctive white headband was accompanied by he of the flowing dark ginger curlilocks, Ryan Sidebottom. The left-armer claimed 7-50 in the match, which was won by an innings. My final two earned their 'call-ups' in Cardiff and the UAE. Mohit Sharma played three times in the IPL this week, taking six for only 44 runs in total. His 4-14 against Mumbai was the pick of the bunch. Back in the Championship, Dean Cosker peered out of the shadow of the retired Robert Croft to capture 5-46 for Glamorgan. Now aged 36, his left-arm spin has earned him over 550 first-class wickets. They haven't come cheap but he does sterling work for the Welsh side.

So there you have it. Take a bow: Cook, Horton, Compton, Ballance, Maxwell, Ambrose (+), W Gidman, Sidebottom, Brooks, M Sharma, Cosker.

Double delight for Durham and Derbyshire

Durham went 14 1/2 points clear at the top of the Championship, twice bowling former title contenders Sussex out for under 120. Onions, Claydon and Urshad claimed all but one of the wickets between them. At the other end of the table, Derbyshire put 2012 runners-up Somerset in even graver danger of relegation while granting themselves a lifeline. Groenewald and Palladino made a mockery of Trescothick's decision to bat on a dewy first morning at Taunton but credit to the home side for at least making a game of it second time out. Another 23 byes past Craig Kieswetter and a defiant 74 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul were enough to take Derby to the finishing line by two wickets on a tense Thursday afternoon.

Ollie Rayner had a game to savour as Middlesex gave neighbours Surrey another thumping at The Oval. The tall spinner took 15 wickets in the match and had a hand in all ten first innings dismissals: 8 while bowling and catching the other two! Surrey's own offie, Gary Keedy also claimed nine wickets, but finished on the losing side. If he does so again to Somerset next week, it looks like curtains for them in the top tier. However, their opponents are also enduring a nightmare season, so anything could happen. In the other Division One fixture, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire played out a draw. Samit Patel made a century and bemoaned his treatment by England selectors. Maybe he has a point but he's beginning to look like yesterday's man despite being only 28.

In Division Two, leaders Lancashire sat it out while Northants and Essex were out for crucial points behind them. The former made little impression on a batsman-friendly Southampton pitch. Jimmy Adams returned to form with 218 but the opposition's young Robert Keogh went three better, more than doubling his entire first-class aggregate in the process! Meanwhile, rising Essex star Reece Topley boosted his Lions credentials by taking 6-29 and 5-56 in his side's eight-wicket victory over Worcestershire. With a game in hand, they can yet spoil Northants' promotion bid in the final furlong.

Glamorgan's Aussie paceman Michael Hogan took 6-65 against Kent, but the lowly visitors to Cardiff were too strong overall in a low-scoring match. The best individual all-round performance of the week, if not the whole season, came from Gloucestershire's Will Gidman. First he demolished the Leicestershire batting with 6-15 in 14 overs. He then thumped 146 to give his county a lead of 399 before returning with the ball to take 4-28 and wrap up a 24-pointer before day three was complete.

They could yet finish in the top two, but need both Northants and Essex to slip up badly in the run-in. At least Gloucestershire have done better than I predicted, and more outstanding efforts from Klinger, Gidman et al could make it a special summer for them. However their next fixture is at home to Lancashire, which is a daunting prospect.