Other counties (Page 1 of 28)

Surrey sign Grant Elliott

As well as a game for the Sussex 2nd XI last year,  Elliott also played in Surrey (for Weybridge CC) last summer until NZ called him up.

Brilliant, give him six weeks to get used to bowling in English conditions just before the Ashes start :roll:

Bet he dosn't get changed in the phone box if Rob Key is in there

Somewhat rediculous that Kent & Middlesex are giving ashes bound Aussies match practice!

It is not ideal with Clark playing to get fit but I have no problems. Last week 5 Indians touring NZ played in their domestic championship to get match fitness for the current Test.

Hughes was signed for Middx before his Test debut . With the IPL few decent cricketers are available .

If Yassir was not available until the end of May and we signed Brett Lee
nobody here in Sussex would complain. Leicester will not sign an Aussie  but they still have about 6 SA this season.Double standards.

Counties still put themselves first and with IPl and central contracts they are looking to sign top quality players which will enhance the championship.

Anyway we have written off our Test team for this summer so does this matter!!!!!!

So Alex Stewart is unhappy that Middlesex and Kent have enlisted a couple of Aussies for the first part of the season. He predicts that Amjad Khan will not get much cricket at Kent during the period they have Stuart Clark. Maybe we should get in there and borrow Khan for the early season. Cheeky I know, but we will bolster our seam bowling resources while at the same time enhancing his and Englands international prospects, as he will be playing at a higher level. Everybody wins.

No me neither mate, but he has something I suppose, and we may need to recruit 2 or 3 seamers next year so they wont all be top drawer.

I really don't understand where Clarke and co are coming from on this issue.

On Oct 14th 2008(cricinfo) it was reported that Monty Panesar was looking to play in Sri Lanka as preparation for the India tour. It stated that Panesar had hoped to play in the Ranji Trophy (Indian domestic competition) but was unable to overcome the rules on overseas players.
So England management must have thought it was a good idea to get that practice even though it didn't come off because of rules.

Double Standards Chaps!

We should be having battles on the pitch - not off it!

Is anyone else getting fed up with red herrings!

Hi TC, I see it rather as spreading my support rather than divided loyalties. I will always support Sussex as I do think they are a pretty unique club but surely you can see that having spent over 30 years supporting Chris I cannot stop now. I do hope that Surrey take their time and bring on their youngsters as a 'quick fix' is never going to be the answer but if playing the young ones brings promotion then I will be happy. I think the main focus may be on the one day matches this year. If he is successful then it can only add to the growing respect for Sussex and all it stands for in the English game.

As for changing my name, I have given it much thought and feel that it is a 'gain' for Surrey so am sticking with DL for now.

Here's hoping for a great season for both teams.

StuartLaw

Not a bad signing for the one day stuff methinks ......

It's great to see Derbyshire making these sort of signings.

Not much news, Martin. Westwood, new captain, will miss the start of the year, looks as if we've got the £30 million to redevelop the ground and of course we've lost Sals.

Hard to judge how this season will go. England selectors apparently still want Bell to bat at 3 but 'Im sure we will see more of him than usual. If Maddy reacts OK to no longer being captain you'd say with him, Bell, Trott, Tim and Troughton the batting looks good especially of Clarke gets his act together and grows up at last. But we are vulnerable to test calls - seems Trott is getting close to England now. Talking of Trott he says hes spent the winter with the rest of England A players assuring him we will get relegated because we "have no bowling".  I can see why they say that but Woakes, Rankin, Tahir and Clarke do offer more potential than we've had for years. On the other hand Woakes could suffer second season syndrome, Rankin (who is dangerous) and Tahir are never fit while, for all his potential, Clarke has never taken a first class fifer and never managed 25 wickets in a season. So if the attack is hammered from pillar to post all year  that wont shock me either.

We do have some good kids coming through - Andy Miller and Calum Macleod with the ball and a real prodigy, Ateeq Javed,  with the bat (youngest ever contracted player with us I think). Ive seen the latter and he does look special.

On balance, the team looks a little too similar to the disastrous group of 2007 so the question is really how bad was Greatbatch or how bad were they? If I had to bet, Id say a struggle but Worcs and Hants to finish below us.

On the quiet we had statistically our worst ever one day season in 2008 so any improvement there will be welcome. Second division pro 40 doesnt appeal much though.

And my favourite, Tahir, is 100% in the last chance saloon. Loss of Piper is sad for many of us as well. Daft as a brush and only his own indiscipline to blame but even so..