The England camp has been rallying around Ben Stokes after the Durham all-rounder was blasted to all parts of Eden Gardens in the final over of the World T20 final at the weekend, costing his team victory.
Congratulations to the West Indies but the focus of the England players must now switch quickly to domestic matters as the Specsavers County Championship gets under way in just a few days time.
Specsavers Division One County Championship Best Odds
Yorkshire (7/4), Nottinghamshire (13/2), Warwickshire (7/1), Middlesex (15/2), Durham and Surrey (10/1), Lancashire (18/1), Hampshire and Somerset (20/1)
Under the mercurial Jason Gillespie, the conveyor belt of young talent at Headingley just keeps on coming. Alex Lees (who has already captained the side), Jack Leaning, Will Rhodes and Matt Fisher are all highly-rated and have the potential to follow the likes of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett into the England team. Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance will feel that they can force their way back into the Test team as well and David Willey, one of the stars of England’s T20 team, could also flourish in longer versions of the game. With the experience of Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom and Jack Brooks to fall back on, it’s difficult to see any side in Division One getting near Yorkshire in the near future.
Warwickshire are 7/1 with bwin to win Division One and will be captained this year by Ian Bell. The county should benefit if England have called time on Bell’s distinguished Test career and another ex-England batsman, Jonathan Trott, is still around. There are high hopes for Sam Hain but Warwick lack strength-in-depth in the bowling department and could struggle to force results.
Newly-promoted Surrey could surprise a few this year if strike bowlers Mark Footitt and Tom Curran can adapt to playing at a higher level at around the 10/1 mark but Nottinghamshire haven’t strengthened significantly since last season and make little appeal at the general 13/2 as their best players will again be on international duty. Last year’s runners-up Middlesex (a general 15/2) need to be more consistent and it’s difficult to see them going one better.
Rule changes could the talking point in the early part of the new season. The away captain will get to choose if he wants to bowl before the toss even takes place this year. The ECB is hoping it will persuade counties to prepare pitches that will last for the full four days of a County Championship fixture, which would benefit batsmen and spin bowlers and maybe also allow reverse swing for seam bowlers. In an attempt to streamline the county game, only one team will be promoted from Division Two in 2016 but two will still be relegated from Division One.
