Which England players will appear in the opening week? Will Tom Haines or Harry Brook be the next to win a test call? Who are the most important foreign signings? What changes have been introduced for the 2022 season? And who are the favorites to be crowned champions?
Warwickshire celebrate after winning the 2021 County Championship
The English cricket season officially kicks off with the kick-off of the LV= Insurance County Championship on Thursday, so here’s our handy guide to everything you need to know…
Defending champions Warwickshire will host Surrey as part of the eight-match first round, with plenty of interest from England for the visitors as Surrey can draw on the trio of centrally-signed players. Rory burns, ollie dad and Sam Curran (The latter is only available as a batsman while he continues to recover from a back injury.)
from kent Zak Crawley – who started for England on their recent test tour of the West Indies – is the only other England player to have been available for the first round of matches as they travel to Chelmsford to take on Essex.
Yorkshire and Lancashire are the only teams that will not be in the first week of the season. A revamped Yorkshire, resurgent from the racism scandal that gripped the club over the winter, will play their first game under new management at Gloucestershire on Thursday 14 April.
Their great rivals Lancashire will also open their campaign in Kent next week, although it is not yet known whether England’s leading wicket-taker james anderson will appear as he plots his return to the test fold after sitting out the West Indies tour.
broad stuartalso absent from the 1-0 series defeat in the Caribbean, he has confirmed he will not play in Nottinghamshire’s season opener against Sussex.
Former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq first officially complained to the club in 2018, but an independent investigation was not launched until 2020 after he accused the club of being institutionally racist.
Shortly before the end of last season, Yorkshire issued a statement confirming that former player Azeem Rafiq had been the victim of “racial harassment and intimidation”, but a month later they announced that no one would be punished for their part in what happened.
As details of the never-before-seen report on Rafiq’s claims began to leak out, major sponsors cut ties with the county, Headingley was temporarily banned from hosting international cricket and Rafiq was called to testify under parliamentary privilege in front of a committee. from DCMS.
Yorkshire’s then director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, and head coach Andrew Gale were named, along with others, in Rafiq’s harrowing testimony in which he alleged an alarming locker room culture.
Lord Kamlesh Patel subsequently replaced Roger Hutton as chairman of Yorkshire and all of the club’s backroom staff were removed. Since then, legendary fast bowler Darren Gough has arrived as interim director of cricket and former England bowling coach and Ottis Gibson as head coach after spells in charge of the West Indies and South Africa on the international stage.
The ECB has since lifted the ban on hosting international cricket at Headingley, while members of the Yorkshire CCC voted overwhelmingly in favor of the necessary structural changes at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held at the end of March.
With the England Test squad reeling badly over the last 12-18 months, there are places up for grabs for those who raise their hands this domestic summer, particularly with the bat.
young opener tom haines down at Sussex did just that last year, topping the runs scored charts with 1,176 at an average of 47.04, with three hundred six fifty, and that despite playing for a team that woefully underperformed, winning just one of their 14 games played.
joseph bohannon in Lancashire there is another being promoted for a test call after averaging over 50 last year. Warwickshire Opener Rob Yates was instrumental in their fight for the title, scoring four hundred, while Yorkshire harry brook he is also held in high regard and could soon be banging on the door for selection.
Of the foreign contingent arriving on these shores by 2022, the 19-year-old fast bowler from Pakistan naseem shah promises to provide box office entertainment in his first stint in county cricket when he joins Gloucestershire. His international teammate, the equally explosive quick left arm, Shaheen Afridiarrives in Middlesex.
Also, Australian marnus labuschagne – the No. 1 ranked batsman in Test cricket – will play the role of pantomime villain at most of the county’s grounds with the exception of Sophia Gardens when he returns to Glamorgan, where he impressed so much by racking up 1,114 runs in 10 matches in 2019 to lead to a call from Ashes.
And in terms of young talent to watch out for in 2021, look no further than a pair of England Under-19 World Cup sides who reached the tournament final for the first time in 24 years this winter.
Warwickshire SUV jacob betel and Leicestershire leg-spinner rehan ahmed there are two to take note of, especially since the teens just got some big paydays by being drafted by Welsh Fire and Southern Brave, respectively, in the 2022 Hundred Draft.
Bethell’s deal comes off some eye-catching displays, most notably his 88 of 42 deliveries in England’s quarter-final win over South Africa, while Ahmed took 12 wickets in four matches at an astonishing 12.58 average.
Both are likely to enjoy more of an impact in cue ball formats at this stage in their careers, Bethell only making his first-class debut late last year and Ahmed not yet, but remember the names.
The county championship returns to a two-division format this summer for the first time in three years following a vote of the 18 first-class counties at the end of last season.
The 2020 Bob Willis Trophy and the 2021 County Championship were played in an initial group stage of three groups made up of six teams, a format introduced to mitigate the risk of the Covid-19 pandemic.
