Joel Lamy writes for the University of Birmingham’s Redbrick on the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ and his predictions for the upcoming domestic cricket season:
Division One
Durham
IN: Mark Wood
OUT: Kyle Coetzer (Northamptonshire), Ben Harmison (Kent), Mark Davies (Kent)
OVERSEAS: Herschelle Gibbs (T20) Mitchell Johnson (T20)
Last Season:
CountyChampionship–3rd
CB40 – semi-final
T20 – 4th in North Group
This Season:
Steve Harmison is one of a number of former England quick bowlers playing for Durham
Durham have now gone two years without lifting the Championship after their back-to-back victories but should once again be in the thick of the title race. Steve Harmison should be fit and firing despite having to overcome his battle with depression and, more recently, a dislocated finger. But if he begins the season in good form, alongside the likes of Graham Onions and leg-spinner Scott Borthwick who continues to improve every season, there will be plenty of firepower to bowl sides out twice.
Batting wise, veterans Michael Di Venuto and Dale Benkenstein will be charged with scoring big first-innings runs, but there are plenty of batsmen who can dominate with six of them averaging 40 last season…
Full Division One review here.
Division Two
Derbyshire
IN: David Wainwright (Yorkshire)
OUT: Greg Smith (Essex), Steffan Jones (retired), Luke Sutton (retired)
OVERSEAS: Martin Guptill (April-June 12), Usman Khawaja (June 14-September), Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (T20)
Last Season:
CountyChampionship–5th
CB40 – 3rd in Group A
T20 – 7th in North Group
This Season:
Australian Usman Khawaja will be one of Derbyshire’s overseas players this season
The departure of director of cricket John Morris and captain Luke Sutton during the 2011 season left the club in the lurch but they have stabilised under the combined stewardship of Karl Krikken and Wayne Madsen. Their squad has been boosted with the signing of David Wainwright and two good overseas batsmen throughout the season. That should ensure a similar performance to last season in all forms of the game.
Predictions:
CountyChampionship– 6th
CB40 – Group Stage
T20 – Group Stage
Full Division Two review here.
