Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

The County Championship season begins tomorrow! A time of year where squads are preparing for an action packed five months and fans hopes and optimism are at their highest.


How do you think your county will do in each major competition?

Who will be the key player and why?

Who will be top run scorer?

Who will be top wicket taker?

Which youngster will emerge?

Biggest weakness?

Biggest Strengths?

Player you hope will do well?

I'll do my prospects for Yorkshire


How do you think your county will do in each major competition?
CCD1: Winners - I feel Yorkshire are creating something special. Going to be a lot tougher in defending the title, but I feel Yorkshire have enough in personnel to do it.
RLODC: Final - Yorkshire seem to progress by one phase in the one day game, so based on that I reckon a trip to Lords awaits.
T20: Finals Day - Although Yorkshire are going to be hampered with England call ups, we should have a full squad available for as many as four group matches whilst Rashid and Willey are set to miss three group games.

Who will be the key player and why?
In a sense, Yorkshire's typical XI are all key players in a sense. Whether it's Lees and Lyth opening, Leaning and Ballance in the middle order, Bresnan's all-round efforts, Brooks strike bowling, Patterson's dot bowling, Sidebottom's reliance.

Who will be top run scorer?
Tough question, so many batsmen to choose from but i'll go with Gary Ballance.

Who will be top wicket taker?
CC - Jack Brooks
RLODC: David Willey
T20: Adil Rashid

Which youngster will emerge?
Matt Fisher - already bowling mid 80mph before turning 18 years old and has done a job for Yorkshire in white ball cricket, a more than useful squad player.

Biggest weakness?
2nd spin option

Biggest Strengths?
Bowling department - With David Willey being on board along with Rhodes and Fisher displaying 1st XI credentials, Yorkshire can easily field two separate bowling attacks in any format.

Player you hope will do well?
Adam Lyth - after being discarded by England, I hope he bounces back and be in amongst the runs for Yorkshire.

Kent
How do you think your county will do in each major competition?
CCD2: 4th - The team looks in a much better shape this year but there isn't much depth to the squad so injuries or loss of form could derail any title challenge.
RLODC: Quarter-finals - Always do well in this competition.
T20: Finals Day - Did very well last year and should have reached Finals Day then. We've added Latham and Rabada to the team so no reason why we can't go one better.

Who will be the key player and why?
Don't really want to see Darren Stevens every year so i'll go with Matt Coles. Was easily our best bowler last year and showcased his ability with the bat. If he can become a bit more consistent with the bat then we have an all-round match winner in any format.

Who will be top run scorer?
Sam Northeast has gone from strength to strength but i'll have to say Tom Latham. Expecting big things from him.

Who will be top wicket taker?
Matt Coles. Don't see anyone who can compete with him.

Which youngster will emerge?
Imran Qayyum - left arm spinner. Might not get many opportunities but has done well for the 2nd XI and has a played a bit in pre-season.

Biggest weakness?
Bowling. A bit worrying that our 2nd best bowler is 40 years old even if he is a legend of county cricket.

Biggest Strengths?
Limited overs batting. A line up of Latham, Bell-Drummond, Northeast, Billings, Stevens, Blake is as good as any in county cricket.

Player you hope will do well?
Bell-Drummond. Has so much talent. If he can become more consistent then we have a star on our hands.

Durham

How do you think your county will do in each major competition?
CC 6th or 7th
50 QF's
20 group stage

Who will be the key player and why?
Borthwick. we need him to continue to be a consistent run scorer, and with the new 'no toss' rule he might have to bowl a lot more too

Who will be top run scorer?
Borthwick

Who will be top wicket taker?
Rushworth

Which youngster will emerge?
Still a youngster, sort of, but we need Jennings to finally nail down the opening slot because if he doesn't, we've only got kids to sacrifice

Biggest weakness?
depth of squad and keeping them fit. normally the batting too, but pitches could be pretty flat this year

Biggest Strengths?
hard to tell at this moment in time. usually the pitch but perhaps not this year

Player you hope will do well?
Collingwood..... we'll need runs from him as well as nouse this year [/quote]

How do you think your county will do in each major competition?

LVCC: Will be a very tough fight to avoid the drop year, can see us going down.
Royal London: Quarter Finals
T20: Finals day.

Who will be the key player and why?

If he can get fit, Tom Smith's bowling and batting will hugely strengthen the side. Since that is unlikely to happen, we really need Kerrigan to get back to his best.

Who will be top run scorer?

Brown

Who will be top wicket taker?

Javis

Which youngster will emerge?

Hameed

Biggest weakness?

The batting, very liable to implosions.

Biggest Strengths?

The bowling.

Player you hope will do well?

Croft.

I reckon that Diligent would be far more accurate than me!